This Fire
by Fangy
Summary: In his maddness Sephiroth embraces Jenovas ideas and slaughters a entire village. Leaveing behind a young daughter that must face life in a new harsh reality. a new Bonus is up! And I finally updated a serious chapter as well. Been awhile eh?
1. A day in the life of

A Midgar afternoon. Its skies pitch black and highlighted with streaks of the green glow coming from the Mako reactors. The pollution wasn't so heavy today, therefore the thick clouds that clung to the city were thin, and one could see out to the edges of the plate and a bit beyond. In reality it wasn't that much of a rare sight, considering that buildings had always blocked the way. But still, the air had a different smell this day. Taking a moment to pull her heavy backpack from slipping from her shoulder Netzach once again began her journey home, which was in Sector five, and her current location was just outside her schoolyard in sector four. She sighed, this was the second time this week she had missed the school bus home. Meaning there was a good walk ahead of her. Not that it was considerably a long walk, but when feeling lazy one doesn't want to walk at all.

And she couldn't phone for a ride either, she had spent her "phone gil" on munchies at school, and unlike other children Netzach didn't carry a cell phone. Her parents didn't see what a 12 year old would need with such a thing. She grumbled, "Sure could use it now."

Therefore at defeat Netzach just began to drag herself home. It would take her perhaps thirty minutes or so. Her mother would be furious with her when she arrived home. And then lecture her on the importance of catching the bus home, or keeping gil on her to call if need be. It almost wanted to make her walk slowly, as if to avoid such a conflict, but as fate would have it, it slowly began to rain, spitting became a downpour. Her small frame was engulfed with water and her snow white hair stuck to her face. Her mother wouldn't be pleased; her school uniform would have to be washed. It was a good thing she had a couple of spares.

Netzach somewhat stood out amongst others, her white hair was one of her unique features she had acquired from her father, along with her green eyes that were naturally cat like, however Netzach had found a way with much concentration to widen her pupils to make them look "ordinary", however a tinge of a glow always made her… different. Although she learnt to work around it. She made good friends at school. They had come to accept her as she was, or so it seemed. Netzach always kept her eyes open for backstabbers. It was obvious. Netzach didn't like to be made fun of or picked on. She had a lot of that in earlier school years.

Sighing, the young girl decided to get out of the rain. There had been unusual weather in Midgar these days. Rain storms that would last for 30 minutes or so, and then suddenly stop. She heard rumors going around it was because the mako reactors were damaging the environment. Polluting the air and the earth itself, and thus causing all of this strange weather. Taking shelter in a convenience store Netzach found her self staring at the back familiar face,

"Hey Zack" she said as she walked up beside him. "What you doing here?"

Zack was one of her fathers highest of SOLDIERS, first class. He had gotten to know her family much since her father and Zack had become "good friends" or buddies it seemed. He had been in her life since well before she could remember.

"I should ask you the same question missy." He retorted.

"Escaping from the rain." She put it simply enough, Zack looked out the window. "Pretty nasty shit out there eh?" Zack always seemed to not care if Netzach was around when he swore. She didn't really care either, he just never said it in front of her when her parents where around. Beside she knew if she were to ever say such words in front of anyone, including Zack, she would get a swift kick in the ass.

He shrugged. "Need a lift home? I got the bike, you'll still get wet but you'll get home faster?" Netzach smiled. Zack was a speed demon, but a good driver. Even her father would admit to that. It was always fun to ride on the back of his bike. "Cool!" She exclaimed.

"Cool… I just got some lights put onto the bike, it's spifftastic now, lights of the roads!" Zack beamed, his bike was his baby and he put almost every penny ShinRa paid him into it.

"What color?"

"You'll see."

The two left the shop to face the rain again. Some people were huddling under the covered areas whereas many others carried umbrellas or simply didn't care and just let themselves get covered in rain.

The two turned a corner and she saw Zack's bike on the curve. He grabbed his helmet and plopped it on Netzach's head.

"Do I have to wear this thing? Its' heavy."

"You know the rules." Was all he said as he mounted his bike. "C'mon, hop on." The young girl smiled and then pursued to climb up on the bike, when settled Zack flicked on his new lights that were a bright blue and they did in fact light up the area around him.

She smiled. "Nice!"

"Alright, next stop, ze park madam!" Netzach gave a smirk and soon they were buzzing around the streets of Midgar.

The traffic didn't seem to bother the young man. He just drove in and out of the vehicles. And the rain tried to catch up with them, or so it seemed. The ride to her house she hardly got wet because of how fast Zack was driving. Speed demon indeed. He probably wasn't even watching how fast he was going. When they arrived however the rain did catch up to them. Netzach was getting soaked. She took the helmet off and offered it back to Zack.

"You wanna come dry up?" she simply asked.

The SOLDIER looked at the girl and shrugged. "Nah! I got to go meet up with Cloud and a few others. Got a mission to go help your old man." This was nothing new. Zack was usually called in whenever to help out her father. He trusted him. So Zack has been many a times pulled into duty from his vacations and days off.

The girl was curious however of the new name. "Who's Cloud?"

"Ahhh just a newbie we got, he's pretty cool though. Maybe one day I'll introduce you two. He is kinda shy."

Netzach smiled. "Well alright, thanks for the ride Zack!" The SOLDIER nodded and started up his bike again and took off, going even faster then he was before.

The young girl walked through her door and literally dropped all of her stuff, bag and coat and all on the floor. She was tired and was quite thankful today was Friday. Leaving her things behind to dampen the floor, she headed towards the kitchen, and found her mother there talking on the phone.

She automatically knew who her mother was talking to and she darted towards the phone. "Is that Dad?" she said with a smile on her face. "Can I talk to him? Please?"

"In a second honey…." Malliah, obviously Netzachs' mother, was a lovely woman with locks of brown hair that reached down just slightly past her shoulders, blue eyes, and a slim trim, which she exorcized everyday to maintain. However she was ageing and it had shown through the slight increase of wrinkles on her face. Although Netzach could never see them, they were obviously there through her mothers eyes. "Heh yea she just got home. Just a second. Netzach don't leave your things on the floor, go pick them up."

"But I want to talk to Dad!"

"In a moment, go pick your stuff up."

And with a huff she did as she was told. The young girl wandered back over to the door and picked her bag and coat up off the floor and then proceeded to lug them upstairs and into her room. Once she had flung them onto her bed however she ran back downstairs to listen in on the conversation between her mom and dad over the phone.

And upon reaching said destination it was obvious that something her father had said was quite funny since it had her mother laughing out loud over the phone. "Really now? I never thought Scarlet of all people would ever… but then again."

Netzach strolled into the kitchen again, knowing full well that there wasn't anything her mother could send her away to do, everything was put away. "Can I talk to Dad now?"

Malliah looked down at her daughter and smiled. "Your bratling wants to talk to you."

"Mooom!"

Malliah looked up again to the window holding up her finger to suggest to Netzach she only needed one more second, which in Netzachs mind meant perhaps another hour. She loved her mom, but she was always on the phone and it was one of the things that bothered her.

'I will…. I love you to. Here's the kid."

Netzach grabbed the phone as her mother passed it to her. Malliah went back to cleaning the kitchen as her daughter wandered off into the living room with the cordless phone in hand.

"Hey" came a rather smooth and cool voice from the other end.

"Dad, when are you coming home?"

"Heh soon."

"When's soon?"

"Soon enough Netzach. There are still some other things I have to take care of while I'm here. I'll bring you something back"

The girl sighed and plunked herself down on the sofa, flicking the TV on and keeping the volume low, she turned to the cartoon network which was currently showing it's usual after school cartoons which contained one of talking Chocobo and moogle , another of a super hero team fighting off dangerous villain's right in Midgar.

"Ok…." She couldn't refuse presents. But what child could? "I can wait a bit longer." It made her feel a bit better. The idea of gifts, her father had always had good taste and always picked out the most strangest of things form his journeys. Well strange to the common Midgarian.

"That's my girl." It seemed like he was smiling when he said that, his tone perked up a bit. But then again she really couldn't see him, thus she really didn't know. "How's school?"

"Schools fine. Today we had a weird history lesson."

"Oh? And what was your lesson all about today?"

"It was about the Watuian war. And you came up a few times. Ms. Gripton says we have a test on it in about two weeks."

"I see…." Her father seemed distant for a second. She always had known that he didn't want her to know much about his past, but his past was history. The Watuian war only ended about thirteen years ago. And already it was an important mark in history since it was the war that not only brought glory to Sephiroth but also to his employer, ShinRa. Back in the day, even before Sephiroths time, ShinRa was a weapons company, a rather large one. Eventually it expanded and introduced Mako power to the world. But it seemingly got greedy and started to construct Mako reactors everywhere. ShinRa wanted to put one in Watui, but when they said no, and after many disputes later, ShinRa declared war on the Watuian people. Or so she had learnt so far. At least from her family, her teacher had told her a slightly different story. From the text book it was considered that ShinRa only wanted to better Watui, but the people of that strange land attacked a group of ShinRa employees that were just merely relaxing, therefore the war was nothing more then a vendetta of sorts. Either way it seemed like a meaningless war in Netzachs' mind.

"Ms. Gripton says I'm not allowed to cheat and beat answers out of you, so I have to study like everyone else."

"She did, did she?"

"Yep, other then that schools boring."

Sephiroth seemed to smile at her response. 'You won't say that when your out in the real world."

"Yes I will."

"Heh, anyways I have to go, take care of yourself and your mom ok?"

"Ok, you take care to. Love you Dad."

The two had hung up, and it was always the same ending to each conversation, she would say she loved him and he would say "ditto." She knew her father cared, and really she didn't need it to be said to her. It was just their way of things it seemed. Soon after it fell almost silent in the house. Netzach had spent the next hour or so watching cartoons. While her mother was busy finishing off cleaning the kitchen and started to preparedinner. However she grew tired of the television and wandered off to the kitchen.

"Go wash up" was her greeting. "Dinners almost done." Netzach rolled her eyes and started up the stairs towards the bathroom. The girl quickly washed her hands and ran back down the stairs to sit down at the dinner table.

"How about a movie after super? It's Friday after all."

"Cool!"

"Thought you'd like that." Malliah smiled and then sat herself down at the table. The two ate with much conversation surrounding them. The only silence they had all night between them was when the movie was put on. Except for Netzachs laughter of course. It was a comedy the two watched. One that Netzach knew her father if he where there, would arch an eye brow at.

After awhile it was getting late. Netzach was rushed off to bed, and luckily for Malliah her daughter didn't put up much of a fight. She was tired and she succumbed willingly to her mothers demands. Bed to her seemed like a nice idea at this point in time. Unfortunately she knew she wouldn't get much sleep that night as her mother was called off on an emergency phone call to the hospital. Another patient to be saved Netzach figured. But she would eventually fell asleep regardless. And Malliah made sure to double lock the doors and swore she would be home in no time at all. Somehow her mother always came through, she was always home when she woke up for school the next morning. At least she was home for most of the evening.

(oooooooooOooooooooo)

The weekend was good. Her mother had spent a lot of time with her. And they talked a lot and watched movies, and it was just a overall good weekend. But tonight Netzach twisted and turned around in her sleep. Nothing felt right about this night. It was late and it was then she woke up to a knocking on the door. She started to creep down the stairs but carefully took hold of the railing. Who the hell was making such a racket at this time of night? If her father did return from his mission… but no. He had keys. Unless it was her mother and she just forgotten her keys to the house. Would explain the loud knocking. It would wake anyone up.

The young girl walked over to the door. "Who is it!?" she asked. There was no answer but only lights. Like flashlights coming through the window. But no answer. The girl was baffled by this, and it didn't feel right. It was strange the emotions coming over her. Fear, thrill, anger. All in that one moment. It was a push almost. To what direction she did not know.

The attack was sudden. The door was broken down and the young girl screamed. She scrambled up the stairs. Her legs only being caught by that of the men that had invaded her household. "GET OFF ME!!" she bellowed. She tried to kick them off of her. But it was no use.

"Brave little girl." Came a voice. It belonged to a man who covered his face in shadow. But it wasn't that voice that concerned her. It was the whimper that came from the living room. The guard had pulled her off of the railing. "Guard?" she questioned. She looked carefully at their uniforms. ShinRa. But why?

"You're probably asking yourself as why?"

Netzach was horrified. They must of pulled her quietly out of bed. Before Netzach could even know. "Wondering how you didn't even hear anything aren't you?" Netzach was out of breath, her eyes were beginning to be stained with tears. Why would anyone do this?

"My father will-"

"Your father is dead."

"What?" it barely came out of her mouth, that word.

"Kill the mother, and take the child."

Malliah could barely talk she was beaten so badly. But she managed to speak up a little bit. "Please… don't take my daughter."

The man laughed and as he did he walked over to Malliah and let his appearance come into full view. "And why not?" He said as he leaned down to her level, since she could barely maintain herself while standing. "I must say you and Sephiroth did an amazing job on producing this… beautiful specimen."

"Damn you Hojo." Her voice was breaking up. She couldn't move.

In the meantime the SOLDIERS (third class mind you) had gripped on tightly to the young girl.

"MOM!" the girl faught to strick free to only claim a small victory as she ran to her mother. Malliah put her arms around her and clung on tightly to her daughter. She may have been weak at the time, and badly beaten, but if anything she had the strength to hold onto her daughter. One last time.

"It's ok." She said, but Malliah wasn't a fool. She knew what was going to happen. Her tears merged with her blood. "It's alright."

"I don't understand." Netzach whispered. Her hands feel soflty onto her back afraid to hurt her from all the wounds they had inflicted upon her. "Why… why are they doing this?"

"No one ever does understand."

Hojo sighed. "Just like the last one. Shoot her!"

"NOOOO!!" the young girl screamed, "Noo!! Please don't!!"

Hojo smirked the entire time.

"MOOOM!!!

A guard took his gun and aimed it at Malliah.

"Watch this little girl. It will good for educational purposes."

Netzach tried to get away from the scientists grip but he was also backed up by another guard. Her hand reached out, trying to get as close as she could. She screamed again. Crying, in only just mere seconds her life had changed. It was silent, then a loud BANG! And then… nothing. Just the sniffles and the sound of a child crying in the silence of the night.

"Why?" she received no answer. Netzach didn't even struggle when the guard picked her up. That image of her mother going limp was the only thing through her mind at the moment. It was on a loop tape or so it seemed.

And it played on and on, even when her surroundings changed from a truck to the ShinRa building to a dark room. Her world was shattered. And there was nothing left of it now.


	2. Out of the dark

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or any of it's characters! However, I do own Netzach and her mother, Malliah. So no stealing or square will sue you! And I'll lop yer head off with a axe!

Anywho chapter three! Looky! Anywho enjoy, it's getting a bit more angsty... or atleast I hope. O. 

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Left alone for hours, she could hear the people outside her door converse on politics, Shinras stock, executive's everyday lives, things that really didn't seem to matter to the young girl. All Netzach could think of was the brutal events that took place only a few days ago. First her father was taken from her and then her mother. Even worse she saw her mother go limp before her very eyes. That vision haunted her every night. That single tear rolling down her mother's cheek, her lifeless stare…. It became impossible to even sleep for the child. Therefore she was awake most of the night, but unfortunately she would always drift into a nightmare and plunge herself back to that fateful night. And she always woke up screaming. And then crying. She really didn't know what to do, she felt so helpless. And so incredibly lost. It wasn't like her. If anything Netzach was always the one to know what to do, what to say. But now, now she wasn't with the quirky comebacks or the intelligent answers. She was just a simple child trapped in a dark room with literally no way out. And what hurt the most was now she was an orphan.

Alone in a damp room. All she had was a bed with some thin, torn sheets. She had to ask a guard to take her to the bathroom every time she had to use the toilet. And her meals were anything but delicious. The guards would usually deliver her meals. The first couple of days she would kick and scream and try to escape. But she would always fail in doing so. Apparently Hojo, a name she had learnt only a few days ago and one she would never forget, found her "little great escapes" highly amusing.

Netzach kicked the tray of foot across the floor, uninterested in whatever it was. "Gruel" she thought. "How can they feed anyone this stuff?"

She looked like a tired, hungry and hurt child. She was all of the above. But she was always constantly thinking. She would get out of here. One way or another, she would get out. By this time she missed the light of day, even though Midgar didn't get much "light of day" since it was a city of eternal night, or rather eternal city of mako pollution. But still at least it had somewhat fresh air outside.

However before she could come up with another little plan the door creaked open. A man stepped in through the doorway. His glasses shun in the light, and he was silhouetted from the light behind him. His dark figure seemed to blend in with the atmosphere of her "new home".

"Netzach" he started. "Do you know what today is?"

The young girl didn't bother to look up at the man before her. She knew who it was by the tone of his voice. It was commanding yet incredibly playful with such a strict serious tone. It was really unlike anything she heard before. She could tell he was a man that took great joy in his work, but it was his "work" that concerned her. The man was a scientist. And he felt that it was right to take liberties with science. Human specimens to be more exact.

The man tapped his foot waiting for an answer from the child. But when she didn't answer he grew impatient.

"Netzach" he repeated.

The young girl sighed before gathering some sort of energy to form words. "No Professor Hojo. What is today?" the girl looked up to him, he could tell there was some sort of rage left in the girl, but she had learnt to not act on her emotions so much anymore. Less bruises.

Hojo chuckled at the girl. "Then let me tell you. Today Netzach is the first day of you 'training'." The man chuckled again.

"My wh…what?"

"You heard me, not get up! We have much work ahead of us today." Hojo quickly walked over to the girl and pulled her up to her feet. "Come along" he said as he quickly dragged the young girl out of her room.

"I don't want any training!" Netzach protested. "Let me go!"

Hojo only chuckled at her, not even bothering to look back in her direction. She really didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Please" she begged. "At least let me walk! I can walk! PLEASE!" Hojo kept pulling her until he dragged her into an elevator before releasing her arm. She wanted to sob. But she wouldn't, not in front of this horrible man. If she did that she would be giving into the aura of fear this man had seemly created around himself. She watched as other employees seem to dart out of his way, especially when he was dragging someone off to the elevators. She heard certain things from people as she past them by, such as "Poor thing", "So young and she's being dragged off to the labs", "Well she is the daughter of Sephiroth".

Rather boorish music play in the elevator. And apparently they were heading to the 68th floor. She wondered what would await her there. What would he do? She certainly didn't like all the sad looks on other people's faces as she was dragged off by the professor. As if they knew something she didn't.

"Where are we going?" she finally asked. "I told you before! You better start listening young lady" was his only retort. She stayed silent after that, not wanting to be lectured again. Instead she just mumbled something under her breath.

It wasn't long before he had grabbed her arm again and started dragging her off the elevator. They had only gone up a couple of floors, but it seemed like it took ages to Netzach. She struggled against his grip, although she didn't put up as much of a fuss as she did last time. She was too young and to weak to prove to be any kind of a threat to this man. She wanted to cry then. She was too damn weak to fight for her own damn safety. To weak to do anything, and oh how she loathed that word now. "Weak" to weak to do anything. She wasn't strong enough to save her mother never mind herself. And as if hand wrapped around her right arm wasn't painful enough. He didn't take any notice into what he was doing at that moment. He really didn't seem to care. Not in the "loving" sense anyways.

"Come along Ms. Netzach. Stop dilly dawdling. The more you fight against me, the more it's going to hurt. I promise you that." He looked back at her with a wicked smile plastered all over his face, as if he actually meant what he said. It didn't seem to matter though. The girl kept trying to break free.

Hojo let out a sigh. This one was going to take up a lot of his time and effort. "But it will be worth it in the end" he thought. "A child born to Sephiroth, his blood. How delightful." The professor was already calculating up the total of days and late nights he would be spending in the labs with this new specimen. "What number shall I give her?" was yet another thought that past his mind. In fact there were too many questions entering his mind. He almost seemed withdrawn from the world around him. That was until Netzach stepped on his foot and tried to break free from his grip.

"Damn you child! That hurt!" The girl in a panic ran towards another elevator as he let go of her arm. A guard noticed her coming and soon stopped her however. She demanded to be let through. But sadly the only thing the guard could do was shake his head at the silver haired girl. "You think you can get away so easily eh?" came a familiar voice from behind. Hojo grabbed her once again. "Do not run off again young lady." He demanded.

"I don't want to go through training! I don't want to…to be… one of your projects!" once she was finished Hojo let out a loud "HA!" and then chuckled. Oh how she was begging to hate that chuckle. "Clever girl. Tell me, do you really think you have a choice my dear?"

Netzach frowned at his answer. She had a terrible feeling that whatever today would bring would be unbearable.

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Will try to get chapter four up tommorow. Until then, lates!

-Fangy


	3. Out of the Dark Pt 2

Disclaimer: Hojo/Shinra and all things FF7 related are (c) to Square Enix. However Netzach is (c) to me! So no stealing! Or I'll coem at ya with a spork! >:)

Anywho sorry it took me so long to update! O.o It's just that work and whatnot got in the way! So yea anywho here is chapter 4, or rather part 2 of chapter 3! laughs

Hope ya enjoy anywho!

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The girl at this point in time was panicking. Her heart was racing, how fast she didn't know. What she did know however was that this man was there when her mother was shot and killed, all his doing. But for what? To get to her? Or was he just going to kill her like he killed her mother. Whichever way this was going she didn't like it obviously.

Netzach knew she inherited some of her fathers DNA, some of his special attributes. Her parents told her themselves. That she may be somewhat "different" from other children. Really it was that difference which made them worry. She never seemed to get sick, her eyes and hair were identical to her fathers. If anything they wanted her to have a normal life. And in truth she did, until now.

"Is that the reason why he…he…?" she thought to herself. "Does this have anything to do with my father?" The silver haired girl really didn't understand all that was going on, although she knew the professor was known for his "projects". But that was in truth, all she knew. She only overheard some things here and there from her father. But nothing much else.

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Hojo had stopped dragging her so much at this point in time since she stopped fighting the inevitable and decided it would be a good idea to walk beside the professor, although she did walk at a slow pace, if anything but to annoy the man.

"In here!" the scientist said as he narrowed a corner taking her along with him. They entered a small quiet room. It had a window to the right which looked over Midgar. It was a pretty nice view actually, being so high up in the building. It also had a single bed in it, covered in white sheets seemingly to match the decor of the walls. There was also a closet. She didn't know what was in it exactly since it was currently closed. And hung from the ceiling in the corner opposite end of the head of the bed was a TV. It's remote sat on the bedside table. There was also a door to the right of the closet. "A bathroom" she thought. But what concerned her more was the tray on the cart that sat against the opposite wall of the bed. It was littered with different kinds of medical equipment. Beside that was some sort of machine. Something from the looks of it you would find in a hospital. Actually the whole damn room looked like something you would find in a hospital.

"This will be your room for the duration of your stay here. My office is just down the hall, about three doors down. However I recommend that you DO NOT disturb me while I'm working young lady." The last bit be said with a snarl on his lips. "I have a lot of work to do these days. The Presidents seem to get a kick out of keeping me busy and away from other more important projects. However, no worries I will make time for you." Hojo chuckled. That bloody annoying chuckled again. Netzach looked up at the man with sheer hatred and with a bit of annoyance to. "Oh and one more thing my dear, you may not leave this floor. That is when I let you out of your room, if you're a good girl. If you do try another little stunt like you did back in the hallway, then no one will see you for weeks understand?" Hojo bent down a bit to put his face near hers, but to still look dominate over her as he looked down upon the young girl.

"Yes Professor" she said with a frown.

"Good, I'll be right back. Today we're going to start slow with some blood samples, hehehehe" The man left chuckling to himself. She hated the man. Even more so she hated the laugh that went along with the man. However Netzach did find it somewhat amusing as others seem to casually remove themselves from his path down the hallway.

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Netzach found herself alone, like usual these days. She was scared out of her mind, frightened beyond… anything she could think of. Here she was in the ShinRa building with a madman! No where to run, there was guards everywhere, there was no possible way of sneaking out, and even if she tired she would have to go down 68 floors. How was she ever going to get away with 68 floors packed with tight security?

Netzach sighed and took a seat on her bed. At least the view was nice.

Thirty minutes went by and the professor had not yet returned. And had already grown tired of the television. The news was still speaking of "The Great Sephiroths disappearance" and that was the last thing she wanted to hear now. Netzach frowned as she flicked the television off, and with that she tossed the remote back on the bedside table.

All she really wanted to do was cry, curl up in a corner and just ball her eyes out. But with her current situation she wasn't going to let that happen. Not with that madman apparently coming back. So instead of reliving the past she got up and walked towards the closet. She had wondered what exactly was in there. "Probably nothing" she thought as she put her hands on the little knobs. "It's probably just as empty as the rest of the room, or… maybe it's just filled with more medical things…. Maybe I don't… But I gotta!" The young girl took in a deep breath as she braced the handles and opened the closet.

"What the…?"

The closet was actually full of things. Clothing, all her size, but nothing she liked. It all seemed to be either simple white pieces of clothing or these dark blue or black uniforms. Shoulder pads were placed in a hanging shelf, leather gloves, belts, bracers, accessories, things that seemed to belong to the typical SOLIDER uniform. But somewhat different.

"The uniforms are what you will be wearing when you start your training; the other is for "around the house"."

Netzach jerked her head towards the door. Hojo had returned, with syringe in hand. "What's that for?" she asked plainly.

"You really have to start listening my dear." Netzach backed away slowly as he advanced towards her. "Hehehehehe oh don't fret so much, this won't hurt." By this time Netzach had backed herself into the wall. Hojo had grabbed her arm and rolled up her shirt. "Quite squirming, it will only hurt more if you struggle!"

She wanted to blurt out "You said this wouldn't hurt!" but she knew that would be childish and would probably make the professor more angry then he already was. Instead she settled for a simple "Ow!" as she watched the man puncture her skin with the needle.

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Hojo took all the samples he needed. Which was really only one blood sample. He patched her up with as little care as one could and just seemingly slapped a band aid on her arm. "Now be a good little girl and behave for the rest of the day." He said apparently in utter annoyance. "I'll have guards check on you every now and then, if you need anything get them to deal with it!" Hojo closed the door on his way out. It wasn't exactly a slam, but it was loud enough to make her cringe.

Netzach was left alone for the rest of the afternoon. A few guards came to check up on her every now and then. They usually just found her watching TV. Although she would sneer at everyone that came in. Trying to find some sort of entertainment in annoying them. But then again, they were soldiers, third class everyday grunts, but soldiers nonetheless. They were used to the sneers that they got from all sorts of other people they have come across in their careers. She even recognized a few of them. And they seemingly recognized her. Although they never said a word, nor did she for that matter.

Hours had past. And night skies hung above Midgar. And fortunately she had not seen Hojo after he had left her earlier. Until she heard his voice coming from down the hallway.

"Oh yes, we captured her." There was a window on her door. It had set of white blinds hanging over it. She stood up as tall as she could on her tows and pulled the blinds down to give her a view of what exactly was going on outside her door. "The mother was easy to handle. She died crying for her child as they all do. Hehehehe"

Netzach frowned when the professor chuckled at her mother's death. The thought enraged her, but saddened her. She forced back tears as they began to form and tried to remain calm and try to listen to the conversation.

"I've already taken samples, she's in perfect condition. Much like her father." The man was talking on his cell phone. "Yes…. Perhaps a little more time and she'll be able to start moving into the more physical aspect of the project."

"Who was he talking to?" was a thought that crossed her mind. "Who else would want to know of that madman's doings?"

"Hahahahahaha" Broke her train of thought. "Oh I'm quite sure that will be possible, once you get back from your vacation Mr President."

The girl was shocked to say the least. Now she knew that President ShinRa wasn't of the nicest of men, knowing this by meeting him a couple times herself. Every time she met him she had hidden behind her father. He always gave off a sort of a nasty aura.

Hojo said his goodbyes over the phone and started to head towards her room. Wide eyed she ran from the door and flung herself on the bed, and quickly covered herself in blankets to make her appear as if she was in bed the entire time and didn't hear a word of the professor's conversation.

Hojo opened the door and walked in. "Been a good girl I see." He said smugly. "Better get some sleep young lady. You have a lot of work ahead of you tomorrow." The professor smirked at his statement. "It's 9pm, time to check on the other specimens, before retiring for the evening" He chuckled before he switched the light off, and this time, quietly closed her door. But she could hear him chuckle as he walked away.

Netzach didn't like the idea of him saying "other specimens" The fact that there was creatures on the same floor as her scared her, but the other thing that he said was "other" as if she was just part of the list of freaks he had.

Not wanting to think about it she curled up in her blanket and tried to get some sort of rest before she was thrown into another day of life on the 68th floor.

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Poor lil' Netzach, although I must admit I like netzach and Hojos relationship. It's much fun to write anywho.

Until next time.

-Fangy


	4. A childs fear

Dislcaimer: Anything ado with FF7 is NOT MINE! Square Enix holds the copyrights to that! Netzach however is MINE! So no stealing! shakes fist and threats people with a spork

Anywho yea, this chapter is kinda boring, but the next onei s gonna get way better, this one is basically, well... filler until what happens next. YARR! O. 

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The next morning she woke up screaming as she always did, the nightmares were always painful, always horrid. And worst of all she always woke up in a room that was not her own. At least not by her standards anyways. Her room at home was full of posters and pictures and toys, mostly stuffed animals. But it was all hers. In here, nothing was hers, of course it was all made for her, but it just didn't belong to her.

Netzach frowned at the thought of a new day. It sure held a lot of new promises, new promises to more pain, needles and whatever else the dear professor had planned for her. She silently wondered for a second of the thought of running towards the elevators. Or perhaps climbing down the ledges outside. "Ridicules" she thought as she shook her head. "I just have to play along until I can make a run for it, maybe one day they'll let their guard down?" The young girl sighed. She wanted it badly but she knew escaping out of this hell was next to impossible.

Shaking thoughts of escape out of her head she decided it would be a good idea to see what exactly was going on around the rest of the floor she was on. She silently opened the door and peeked outside. People in suits, others in white lab coats where running around here and there. Mostly carrying paperwork and the like. "How boring" the child said with a smirk. "Paperwork must be part of the average ShinRa employees' day. Is this all they do?" Sighing Netzach closed the door. Hojo would probably be furious with her if he found her peering out of her door at eight in the morning.

With nothing else to do she flopped on her bed and flicked the TV on once again and watched some early morning cartoons. However, as much as she tried to be amused by the characters on the screen, they just didn't bring a smile to her face.

Suddenly her door opened. Fearful that it would be the professor, she flicked the television off and stared wide eyed at the door. Fortunately she was greeted with another face. A warm one. The man must have been in his mid to late thirties. He wasn't all that tall, but he stood at a good height so he wasn't incredibly short either. He had short brown hair, and green eyes. He was dressed in a black suit, white shirt and a black tie. Very simple. "Hello" the man said as he entered her room with a smile. "Who are you?" she asked.

The mans smile widened when she asked her simple question. "My name is John, and I'm actually professors Hojos secretary. I'll be the one to bring you your meals and whatever else you may need." He seemingly brought her food. But unlike the stuff they brought her before this actually looked eatable. "John eh?" she thought. "Simple name to go with a simple man." Netzach looked up to the man as he placed a foldable table next to her bed and then placed a try of food on it, along with utensils and a few napkins. "Well eat up, wouldn't want to see you starve. I'm just down the hallways sitting at my desk if you need me."

"But… I'm not allowed out of my room" she stated rather flatly.

"Oh?" came from Johns lips. "Well then you see this phone here?" Oddly enough she never noticed the phone that was screwed into the wall by the door. "If you need me dial 078 ok?" Netzach looked up at him for a moment. "078? How did you get such a simple number?" The secretary smiled once again. "Actually Netzach that's your room number. Well I must be going. I have some work to do for Professor Hojo. So eat up, he will come to see you today."

And with that he left. Leaving her with the terrible thoughts of Hojos apparent visit that he had planned for today. Suddenly she didn't feel hungry, even though she hadn't eaten much for days. Although she had to admit that cereal sure looked good about now.

Taking up the spoon she began to gorge her food down. And sooner after that she had drunk the glass of milk that sat beside the bowl. "Not bad for hospital food or whatever this place is." Bored and somewhat still kind of sleepy Netzach curled up on her bed once again. Her eyes just started to stare off into the view from out her window.

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"Netzach! Wake up! Damnable girl get up!"

She woke with a start, only to find the dear professor hovering over her. "About time!" he snapped. Apparently falling back to sleep after one had already woken up is not allowed. "What?" she muttered, not really caring to whom she was talking back to.

"Don't take that tone with me young lady! Now, we have work to do today. Get dressed and I'll be waiting outside your door. Hop to it." Netzach cringed as Hojo slammed the door behind him. The silver haired girl sighed, and walked over to her closet, and pulled it open. Obviously he didn't wan her in the "rags" she was wearing now. Since she hadn't washed them in awhile. She pulled out one of the "around the house" kind of outfits that was stashed away in the back of the closet for her and put it on. It was pretty simple. White shirt and a pair of some basic white sweatpants, and a white hoodie. "They want me to blend in with the walls or something?" The girl sighed and then pulled open the door to find Hojo had kept his word, and was indeed waiting for her.

"Finally" he muttered. "Follow me. I do not want to have to drag you throughout my entire floor, so please keep up and absolutely NO running off!" The man walked off with his hands behind his back, which was as usual slouched over.

Netzach followed the professor without question. She really didn't want to know what would happen if she did run off again. She had a gut feeling he wouldn't just yank her by the arm and show her back to her room. Instead it would probably be something much more… painful. So instead she kept quiet and only began to wonder what he was about to do. Although there were several times she was thrown almost into a panic at the things she saw. It was true, his specimens where living creatures. Some even human.

She gaped at a scene she saw as she passed down the many hallways of the 68th floor. A man or at least it looked like one, stuck inside a large tube filled with water. His only way to breath was the mask that enveloped his face. Her mouth hung open in shock. Hojo went ahead, knowing that she had locked her eyes on specimen #42. This was one of the most annoying of all his specimens. The reason being is that he simply didn't give in. The man simply refused to let his humanity go to become something more, something greater.

Netzach fumbled backwards and tripped over a medical tray, sending it crashing to the ground. Which seemed to wake specimen #42. And when his eyes flashed open, it received a scream from the young girl before him before she dashed off in the opposite direction of where the specimen and Hojo stood.

The professor turned around at this moment, he actually stopped walking, to give Netzach a chance to stop gawking and perhaps catch up. But instead she turned and ran the other direction. Strange how she does not listen, this was the exact thing he told her not to do. Hojo rolled his eyes before giving out a quiet sigh. And with straightening his glasses on his nose he walked off to reclaim the girl. He really didn't have time for this today.

Netzach on the other hand really didn't give a damn. Whatever that thing was she really didn't want to end up like it. She rather liked her life outside of a glass tube. "What the hell was that… that thing?" she muttered. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest, and she laid her right hand over it, and she sunk down to the floor against a wall.

"This isn't happening" she thought, "This can't be happening. I'm not going to be one of his… project to be turned into… into that… THING!" she began to relax herself, although that refreshing feeling didn't last long when she began to hear recognizable footsteps coming from around the corner. "Great" she muttered under her breath.

"Ms Netzach" she heard from above her. She didn't even bother to look up. She already knew who was looming over her. "I thought I told you not to run off today."

The girl stood up and looked at the professor. "I don't want to become one of those things you have locked away! Is that what your gonna do to me?" she sneered at the scientist. The man looked down at her blankly before he began to chuckle. "Why does he always have to do that?" the girl thought.

"Hahahahahaha, you're a high class "priority" little Ms Netzach" he chuckled, "You won't be finding yourself in any tubes, although if you don't start behaving I may be forced to shove you in one!"

"I don't want anymore needles! I just want to go home!"

"Oh but you forget, no one is at home for you my dear. This is your only home now."

"That's because you killed her! You killed her! You bastard! I hate you!" The girl screamed, tears that she once held back were now streaming down her face. "I hate you…"

"Hahahaha, do you know how many times people have said that to me and it still doesn't loose its charm! Now FOLLOW me and no matter how scary some of your "roommates" may be you still shouldn't be so rude as to scream and run away from them. I think you hurt #42's feelings." The professor turned and started walking back in the direction they were going in the first place.

"NO! I…don't…."

"Come along, or would you rather me drag you through the hallways and show you every single one of my precious specimens?"

The girl sighed. She really didn't want to see anymore of Hojos freak projects. And so complied with his order. She followed him down the hallway and tried to keep her eyes on Hojos back rather then what was around her. This whole was nothing but a science lab from a bad horror flick she thought.

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A few moments and they had entered a small room. He told her to sit on the "bed" or at least it looked like a bed. She wasn't really quite sure what it was called, all she knew was that it was the same kind of thing she usually laid on when she want to her family doctor. And how she hated the paper underneath her. It just crinkled every time she moved, and she was fearful Hojo would be even more upset with her. But he didn't say a word for the first ten or so minutes. He just sat there with Netzach across from him holding a clip board in his hands, looking over notes and whatever else it was he had written down.

He muttered a few things from time to time before he actually looked up to the small frame in front of him. "Hrmmm…. I guess we'll start slow today. Did you know your jenova levels are high, but your mako level is average? We're going to have to fix that."

"Why?" she muttered.

"Questions again? Why? Because it will make you stronger, faster, more durable so to speak. Your mind will quicken in pace."

"Why should I care?"

"I don't expect you to "care" young lady." The scientist shrugged. "All I want of you is to endure. Now stay here, I'm going to prepare some mako shots for you. Like I said we'll start slow, but don't fret, we'll get into some more serious things later on." The man smirked got up and walked over to a small counter. He inserted some sort of green, almost glowing, liquid into the syringe. "You will be getting one of these a day for the next few months and we'll see what comes of it." Hojos smirk had widened, you could obviously he was giddy, like a child playing for the first time with a new toy.

He walked over to her as she narrowed her eyes at him. She was about to say something before he spoke up. "Most members of SOLDIER are simply showered with mako my dear, you have a high level of it in your system already, being your father's daughter. But I'm taking the liberty to enhance you some more."

She hated how he simply thought of her as some sort of… item, to be enhanced.

The needled punctured her skin and watched the green liquid drain into her body. He took the needle out and again just seemingly slapped a band aid on her arm. The scientist then hooked her up to some sort of machine, it seemingly checked her pulse.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed, "Absolutely perfect!" Netzach on the other hand just frowned. "Feeling dizzy or anything?" The girl just shook her head at the question. The scientist chuckled again. "Even more perfect! One mako shot a day should boost you up to a considerable level within a few weeks. Then the real fun can begin! Hehehehehehe!"

Netzachs frown just seemed to grow deeper at his words. She had to find a way to get out of this place, to get away from this man. But as he led her back to her room she found that if she ever did attempt such a thing, it would be very very difficult. But she had to think of something, anything.

When the did arrive at her door, he turned to look at her. "Since it is pretty early in the day, you have permission to wander around the floor. But DO NOT disturb me. If you have any questions, just ask my secretary, I'm sure you met him already?" Netzach just nodded in response. "Good" and with that he left her behind. Now given permission to actually wander around she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to, afraid of what she may find. The girl entered her room and flopped on her bed giving the idea of "wandering around freely" some thought.

"Maybe then it would give me a chance to get to know my surroundings that way I may have a better chance of getting out of here." She pondered as she looked at the door before her. She really didn't want to be locked up in her room forever, but then again she was afraid of what she may find if she were to start wandering around. But then again if there was people as nice as John around she may find more, but also, she could just find other madmen like Hojo running about. And that she defiantly didn't want to find.

The girl just sighed, "Maybe it's just better to just go out and face your fears… Yea to face your fears, meaning facing Hojo to if he comes around." Netzach smiled and then firmly placed her hand on the doorknob.

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Yea see how boring that chapter was. BAH! Sorry it took so long to update but anywho, see ya around!

-Fangy


	5. Enter the Vice President

Disclaimer: Rufus/Hojo/Anything ShinRa or FF7 related is NOT mine! Netzach however is mine! So no stealing! shakes fist

Anywho Rufus is introduced here so yeah… Ruffie fans rejoice! D

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Netzach opened the door and to her surprise she wasn't greeted with Hojos face. "All the scientists running around like dogs again." She thought. The child smirked at a few of them before actually coming out of her room. However, it took her sometime to let go of the doorframe. On the outside she looked calm, but on the inside she was panicking. She really didn't want to come across what she did moments ago.

"Calm down girl, all you gotta do is avoid that area." She nodded and began to make her way down a hallway. One that would hopefully have a candy or a pop machine. Sure the food was better then what they fed her before. But still, it wasn't chocolate. And oh, how she would kill for a chocolate bar right now.

Netzach continued her way down the hall. Peering into most of the rooms as she walked by them. Half wanting to see and the other half, not even wanting to look. But most of the time all she found was more scientists conducting experiments with chemicals or suits blabbing their mouths off. However she was rather amused by the red headed man she came across. He seemed to be talking to someone. Although she really couldn't see who it was. He walked into the separate extension of another hallway. She remembered how that room lead to the stairs that lead to all the other floors. Apparently he said something snarky the other did not agree with it. All he did was laugh, walked through the door and seemingly followed whomever it was he was talking to.

"Well that was strange" she whispered to no one in particular. However she was startled when someone actually answered. "Not really. Reno is always cracking jokes of some sort. And it seems Roslaind is the butt of his mischief today."

Netzach twirled around at the sound of the voice behind her. She gawked a little however when she saw who it was. "The vice president" she thought to herself. "What's he doing here? Shouldn't he be stuck in some office with mountains of paperwork?" Although she had to admit, he was younger then she remembered. He must have been fourteen or at least fifteen.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with snarl. "Crap, did I just snarl at Rufus ShinRa?" Now she was expecting some sort of slap on the hand or even worse on the cheek. But he did nothing but look at her with his lips twisted into some sort of smirk. "I could ask you the same thing Netzach, oh wait now I remember. Your Hojos new toy aren't you?" Rufus just chuckled. "I am nobody's toy!" the twelve year old protested as she straightened her posture and clenched her fists. The vice president always bugged her, every ShinRa ball she ever attended he would be there, and every time he would make faces at her from his seat. Her father would always be invited and he would always attend. "Business" he said it was. "Have to keep the President happy."

Rufus' smirk however had turned into a frown as he watched Netzach take on her defensive posture. "We clash." He stated simply. She calmed down for a moment and look up at him with a questionable expression. "The clothes, we're both wearing white." Netzach looked down at herself. "Oh… yea…. Their not really mine. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Am I not allowed to walk around in my old mans building? It will after all be mine one day."

"I didn't say that, I mean why are you on this floor?"

"Curious."

"Curious? Why?"

"Boredom really… Plus I wanted to come see you."

"Me? Why?"

"I told you I was bored Netzach."

"You just came to snarl at me again! Like you always do! You probably heard about my sad story so you came up here to just…. Just makes things worse!" she blurted out the last bit. She really wanted to just punch this guy. The perhaps go off and sulk in some corner. She really hated her emotions right now.

Rufus looked down at her coldly. "You deserved it, the 'snarling' that is." he said as he flicked his hair. "Now if you excuse me I have other things to attend to."

Netzach mumbled something under her breath as she stood there, arms crossed, watching him board the elevator. He turned around once he got in and pinned his eyes on her with his icy stare. She just glared back. At least until he was out of her sight. When the doors of the elevators doors closed she just turned her back and walked away.

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The young girl wandered around the floor for awhile, looking for some sort of escape root. A small area where she could slip away. Perhaps even a way to get up into the rafters. But there was none. Security was pretty tight. If one were to ever escape the ShinRa building you would have to be quite powerful, and she was just a child. "Getting out of here is gonna take longer then I thought." The child silently thought. "Ugh I really don't want to wake up tomorrow to more shots and freakish monsters."

Aimlessly, Netzach wandered around, half thinking of personal thoughts, the other wishing she could find a candy machine of some sort.

"Why does this always have to happen to me?"

"Why did he have to die?"

"Why did they have to kill mom?"

"Why can't I get the hell out of this building?"

The child sighed and took a seat in the hallway. Everyone just seemed to walk by her, not giving her a second glance. They all knew that she was now Hojos property. They probably didn't want to infuriate the professor; hence they just let her be.

"So lonely, no one to talk to but a madman with a syringe."

That's when she remembered John. "The simple looking guy." A smiled etched onto the young girls face as she lifted herself from her seat. She then began to walk towards Hojos office.

The hallway was as white as the rest of the 68th floor. Netzach turned a corner to come across a rather large desk, and a large open doorway, that seem to present her with a strange mixture of things. Netzach just figured Hojos office was beyond that, probably in some place where he could watch his specimens. But she realized that there is no one around. No guards, no one but Hojo and John. Well actually no one at all. And right above her was a rafter. She could easily climb in.

"Well I hope Johnny boy doesn't mind if I mess up his desk here. Although I bet Hojo will kill when he finds the paperwork scattered everywhere. Now if I could only…."

The child had climbed up on top of the desk and began jumping as high as she could to reach the rafters. But she was currently too short. Until she put the chair on the desk and reached it that way. She unlatched the cover and pushed it aside as she climbed in, replacing the cover as soon as she was finished.

"I am sooo getting out of this hell!"

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Around 20 minutes had past since she gained access to the rafters. It was Hojo himself that deduced that it was Netzach that was attempting the "miniature great escape."

The professor snapped at the guards he had assigned to his floor. "Useless! You're all bloody useless! Spread out! Find the girl! She could be anywhere now!"

One guard had the guts to speak out. "Uhhh sir, actually we've caught her on video a couple of times now. She's hopping from floor to floor, but I think she's a little bit… uhhh… lost, sir."

"Why wasn't I informed of this before?" The guard quivered at the professor's screech. It didn't seem to matter how long you served in the ShinRa building, one never did get used to Hojo and his "tantrums".

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"Great, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I'm seriously lost. And I'm sure they've caught me on tape a few times now. Mrghhh, why can't I be a little stealthier!" she gasped when she realized she had said that out loud and covered her mouth. "Damn" she thought.

She was relieved that no one heard her and began to move on. She found points in the rafters that would drop. Taking a chance she slide down the rafter and quickly grabbed a ledge when it came into view. Netzach hung there for a moment before she slowly pulled herself up into the new set of rafters to explore.

"It's gonna take hours to get the hell out of here."

However as she was passing by one of the rooms below she heard a familiar voice. The 12 year old sighed. This was the second time she had bumped into him today. And she was starting to get annoyed at basically everything around her at the moment. The last thing she needed was him. It was a miracle she even stayed and listened.

"I'm not paying you to try. I'm paying you to actually do!"

He had a cell phone to his ear and he looked rather disgruntled about something.

"Now get out there and do what I've asked you to do! No arguments! I want results soon. And if you don't give me results, don' call back or I'll have to put a bullet between yours eyes you hear? Good! Now get to work!"

The vice president closed his flip phone, chucked onto the table he was sitting at and flipped his strawberry blonde hair.

"Morons"

Rufus just shook his head.

"So over hearing peoples conversations is becoming a hobby of yours Netzach?"

The young girl gasped as she started to back up in the rafters. "How did he…?"

"Oh you've been there for the past minute or so. Why don't you just come down?"

Netzach didn't say a word. She just wanted to get the hell out of there.

Rufus on the other hand wasn't in the mood to have someone disobey a direct order. The vice president sighed and the lifted himself from his chair and walked over to the rafter where he could clearly see her from the gaps on the cover.

"Don't make me force you down. I would hate to whip out my shotgun on you."

The young girl sighed and just complied. Running away wasn't going to get her anywhere, she couldn't move fast enough in this rafters and he would probably shoot her with that shotgun he's infamous for.

Netzach opened the cover and pushed it aside and then hopped down right in front of Rufus. She just sighed and rolled her eyes.

"So you're the one their all harping about?"

Netzach didn't answer.

"You know escaping from Hojos labs is a brave but very dangerous thing to do."

"Whatever"

"You'll probably get severely punished for this when I take you back. You do know that?" He simple told her as his cold eyes just seemingly hovered over her. It was then she noticed that she looked so sad. She wasn't glaring, she wasn't pulling any tricks. She really simply wanted her freedom. He kind of felt sorry for her, since he kind of knew what that felt like. Being the heir to ShinRa didn't give you as many freedoms as one would think. Sure you could go anywhere you wanted, buy anything you wanted but there was always something missing.

Netzach just snarled at him. "You going to take me back or something?"

"No."

No?"

"No, they will"

"They?"

"Tseng."

A young man then walked into the room, perhaps a little older then Rufus himself but not by much. He was dressed in the blue suit, white shirt and black tie attire.

"A Turk" Netzach mumbled to herself.

"Would you please escort Ms Netzach back to her floor and room, she has seemingly stumbled upon myself while trying to "escape"."

The Turk nodded and then turned to Netzach before proceeding out the door, silently calling her to follow.

"Now go on, go back to your floor. I'm being nice today, but if I catch you again…."

"Yea yea yea." Netzach frowned before following Tseng out the door. She just followed him throughout the hallways before they came upon a elevator. He made her step in first before he got o himself. The entire trip back to the 68th floor he never spoke a word. It wasn't until they actually reached their destination he actually formed words.

"Professor Hojo?"

"What? Can't you see I'm busy" the man said not even looking at the Turk.

"I believe this belongs to you?"

The professor turned around to find his "specimen" had been found.

"Young lady…."

"Vice President Rufus said to be nice to her, since he himself is in a good mood."

"HA! Like that kid has any real influence in this company"

"He is the president's son, and he clearly said that no harm was to come to her, today that is."

"When did that brat become so nice, hrmmmm?"

"It's just what he said sir."

Hojo looked down on Netzach with a glint of amusement in his placid eyes.

"Hehehehe very well, but tomorrow is a new day! Go to your room young lady! We'll talk, tomorrow. As for you" he then turned back towards Tseng. "get the hell out of my lab!"

"Sir." Tseng just turned around and casually walked back to the elevator, hands behind his back, and as silent as ever.

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W00t chapter 6 is done! PHEW! Anywho emmm yea so there's Ruffie for ya, so yea… told ya he was coming! ;

Later!

-Fangy


	6. Just let me cry

Well ok here is the seventh chapter. Expect Rufus to show up a bit more often from now on since he is a pretty big figure in Netzachs life. He's like fourteen going on fifteen. She's 12, almost thirteen…. So yea… also expect to see more of the Turks showing up in the up and coming chapters. I think pretty much everyone in ShinRa had a huge influence in her life. I mean look at who her father was. Sephiroth if you don't know

The executives may make an appearance here and there, but no big major roles for them. So P to all "executive fans" or whatever.

Anywho enjoy the latest chapter. whistles Oi! And a new original character of mine is gonna show up in the next chapter to so yea, although his name is mentioned near the end of this chapter.

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Weeks had past, and already Netzach was sick of the needles. The "short and simple" experiments. Which consisted of more blood samples, daily Mako injections, and a weekly shot of something new. She received this new shot yesterday, something called "Jenova". She was to receive a shot of this once per week.

As if the Mako wasn't bad enough. Those shots had her in bed in aching pain a day after she got that injection. The professor just chuckled at her and told her to simply get used to it. The first couple of times she would feel a "hell of a lot of pain." And he wasn't kidding. It felt like her entire body was being rearranged. The Jenova however was a different story. That stuff made her feel sick, well at least the first time she received into her system it did. Hojo stated the reason was simply because the Jenova that already was lying in wait within her had awaken by the shot.

She really didn't quite understand. In fact a part of her didn't even want to know. But she figured it was more or less something she inherited from her father unintentionally.

Another note to put on the downside of her life right now was the fact that she was banished to her room until the dear professor thought she had learnt her lesson. All she ever did these days was follow the scientist around to be "observed" or "tested" on. The rest of the time she was locked away in her room, and the only other person that saw her was simple old John. Well ok he wasn't old per say. But still…. She was lonely. Not like she would ever admit to that though.

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"Netzach hold still"

The girl sighed. "I don't wa-"

"You have no choice in the matter young lady."

Another sigh.

"I'm quite sure you've become used to the Mako already. So don't pull the sick stunt on me today young lady."

"But I…."

"No buts! Now lie back."

"What you going to do?"

"Don't question my authority! Just DO IT!"

The child gulped in fear of his stiff tone. But still she didn't comply. Netzach just sat there on the cold metal table.

"I don't want to."

"Do I have to bring in the guards again?"

"I don't want to be cut open and…."

"Guards!"

"Crap" the young girl silently muttered under her breath. They were going to come in and hold her down until the drug kicked in so he could poke around in her.

"No… please! I…." It was already too late. Four guards in their regular blue suits had waltzed in.

"Hold her."

The child struggled against the men as much as she could. Oddly enough the guards always had a bit of trouble holding her down. And she seemingly got even more difficult to control as days went by. She would often hear them talking about her outside her door when they were scheduled to "protect" her door, which was more like keeping her locked in.

Hojo forced a mask to her face which covered her nose and lips. He held it firmly to her as she took in the gas. It was like a sleeping gas… something that knocked you out, but in this case it was more like a drug that kept her limp. But unfortunately, awake. So every incision the professor made she saw. However, she never felt the pain. Although he would always threaten to perhaps one day go about his business without the gas.

That thought alone terrified her. It was bad enough she had to see it all, and even if she closed her eyes she could still hear it. But even still, with that threat in mind. She struggled to the very end.

At this point in time she had taken in a lot of the gas and had calmed down.

"Good girl."

"Go to hell" was really what she wanted to say to that, but unfortunately she was now almost lifeless. She couldn't move.

The professor took up his knife after he had shooed away the guards and began to slice certain parts of her skin. Netzach just cringed. She wanted to cry. How could she let this happen? Why was she so weak to stop this?

Hojo picked up a syringe from the tray on this right and injected into Netzachs' newly fresh cut. And then proceeded to put some sort of cream along the edges of the newly inflicted wound.

"I told you we would start of simple. I bet your wondering what I'm doing aren't you young lady?"

No answer. The scientist just chuckled.

"Relax. What I'm giving you is freedom! And you may be wondering as to what kind of freedom? Well let me answer that for you." The man chuckled. "It is not freedom from these labs, but freedom in mind."

She really didn't know what the old man was babbling on about, but then again he never mad any sense in the first place. But it was all she could really hear, at least he gave her something to listen to other then her own flesh being pulled back and toyed with.

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Hojo had a stiff look on his face, but on the inside he was smiling. The child simply didn't understand. But she would in time. What he was giving her was something he himself would kill to have.

It was not only power, but freedom. You had to have power to have freedom, and he was giving her power. So much of it. "So much she won't even know what to do with it when the times comes." He thought to himself.

And that power was already showing itself. The cream he put on the sides of his fresh cut into her skin was made to stop her from healing at a fast rate. The Jenova had kicked in seemingly faster then he thought it would. It was already reacting to her first treatment and the Mako shots were partially the cause of that. Today he simply wanted to directly give her shots to her heart and other important internal organs. But the reason why he "cut her open" was also very simply because he wanted to see her progress. Up close.

"If she's anything like her father she should be able to survive this."

Satisfied with his research he began to sew her back up and then left the Jenova to take over and heal her.

The scientist then turned his back to the table with his "Precious specimen" lying on it. Motionless, and probably terribly nervous. He readied himself a rather large metal syringe. It was a mixture of Jenova and Mako this time around. He'd never even given Sephiroth a needle with the two mixed together. The two liquids were opposites and already there was a steam rising from the needle itself. He injected into her system, slowly, so he could read her vitals. When he finished he was even amazed she was still alive.

The man chuckled. She may have been alive but the shot give her a new kind of pain. Its hot liquid surged through her body and he smirked she cringed at the pain. It was like lava scorching through her body. Netzach just couldn't take it any longer and she blacked out when Hojo was finally done and the pain subsided a few moments after he removed the needle from her skin.

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She woke up hours later, or perhaps it was days later. She really didn't know. But she could still feel the warmth rushing through her body. Although it didn't seem to be so painful anymore, it just felt warm.

She turned over on her bed to see that a bowl of soup and some packets of crackers had been left on her bedside table. It was cold now, probably brought to her hours ago. She frowned as how simple minded John could be. He brought her soup, when he knew she might be asleep for a long while.

Netzach frowned. At least then she had the crackers.

As she unpackaged the she heard foot steps coming towards her door. Light footsteps. Whoever this person was he or she, it was probably a he since she didn't hear the click of the high heels, knew how to walk without dragging ones heel across the floor. She found that a lot of people did that just by listening to everyone outside her door, not being aloud to leave her room.

She heard him stop, just outside her door. That was when the guard apparently interrupted whoever it was.

"I'm sorry sir, but professor Hojo as ordered that no one is allowed to-"

"Considering that I have a higher status then that buffoon I suggest you let me in. You can arrest assured I've only come to speak with her."

"I'm sorry sir, but-"

"The hell?" she thought. Him again? It's been about three and a half weeks since her last encounter with the Vice President. Why was he coming to see her?

"Let me in or your fired!"

"But sir, I-"

"I don't care whose orders you're taking, you're now taking mine. Is that understood?"

"Sir!"

Seemingly the guard saluted.

Netzach sighed. She turned around on her bed and pretended to gaze out the window when the doorknob clicked.

"What do you want?"

There he stood at the door. In his regular white attire. Wearing his regular smirk on his lips. He shoved his hands in his blazers pockets and rocked himself back and forth in his feet, moving from toe to heel. He seemed chipper… that or he was being sarcastic about something. Either way she really didn't care.

"It seems you've lived through the professors little "cut 'em up" experiments."

"Survived through two now actually." Her face was still looking out towards the window, hoping that perhaps he'd just get the hint that she wasn't interested in talking, especially to him.

"Really?"

Rufus casually walked over and sat on her bed, next to her. He leaned over and rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his hands together. He obviously didn't take the hint.

Netzach frowned and gave out a short sigh.

"You do that a lot."

"I do what a lot?"

"Sighing."

"What about it?"

"Hrmph…."

"Bored again? Is that why you're here? To amuse yourself with Hojo's new specimen?" She was loosing it. She felt so angry and as if she wasn't hurt enough HE had come here and just make thins worse…. Like he always did.

"No. I wanted to come see you."

"Why?"

"Because I-"

"Don't tell me some sort of crap like you're worried or you actually care about my health. Because I won't believe it. So what's the real deal huh? Why have to come to me of all people? To sit and chat? I doubt it."

Rufus was taken back by this. He knew she was frustrated, but now she was giving the lectures.

"You really just blurt out what you want to huh?"

The young girl just turned towards him and eyed Rufus.

"You learn a thing or two when caged like an animal."

"We clash again."

She sighed.

"There you go again, sighing."

"I ask you again, what do you want?"

"Hojo wants to start training you. He put it through to my old man and then he transferred that file over to me."

"Great I'm a file."

Rufus smirked at her retort.

"Yes, a beigey yellow one. That says "Property of ShinRa Inc." on it. It also has a stamp slapped over it that says "Top secret". So my dear Netzach it does seem you belong to me. Since ShinRa is labelled all over your file. Meaning instead of asking, like I was going to do, I'm just going to go ahead with your training. I bet the professor would be glad to hear that."

"Joy."

"General Garrious will be training you. Hojo's pick, not mine."

"You came all the way from whatever floor your office is on just to tell me that?"

The Vice President curtly nodded.

"Why not just get one of the Turks to do it."

Rufus shrugged. "I wanted to see you again. After all I have to ensure that my property doesn't get too banged up from Hojo's thrill seeking."

"I don't belong to anyone."

"Don't worry, I'm not that harsh of an "owner", you can ask Dark Nation…."

"The hell is….?"

"Dark Nation? He's my pet, so to speak. Maybe if you're good I'll bring him by my next visit."

"Whatever."

Rufus left. And she was along once again. A feeling she began to hate. There was always someone in her life. A parent, a friend. Always someone there for her. And even though she had at the time hated his guts, she kinda wished Rufus had stayed a bit longer.

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Well the newest chapter is up. Isn't Hojo a big ass of a bastard? Yea we hate him! shakes fist him

Anyways, yea…. I like Ruffie! There is still gonna be a lot of angst in the story. So yea more of that to come, but it goes into a lighter side of Netzachs' life as well. She HAS to have SOME happy moments in her life.

So yea later!

-Fangy


	7. First Mission

UGH sorry it's been awhile since I've updated! Anyways enjoy!

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Rufus wasn't kidding. Although she wished he had been. General Garrius was a brutal man, with a strict code of ethnics. He was one of ShinRas finest. Which was probably why he was given the assignment of training Netzach. She was; after all, to one day take her fathers place. And ShinRa had little room for failure these days. Especially with a rebellious group known as AVAHLANCHE, whom they thought they had killed off, that was gaining a good amount of power.

These rebels she had heard of before, from her father, but she never gave them much in thought. Everything was fine in her little world at the time. But now, now it interested her. Why would anyone go up against ShinRa she had no idea. The whole idea was suicidal. But then again what she was doing now was along the same lines.

It had only been a month since she started her training with the General. And already she was regretting it, not that she had much choice in the matter. But she didn't like being there nonetheless. Hojos treatments had only gotten worse. To the point where she didn't know if she was glad that she was so sick that she would have to stay locked away in her room and would have to miss practice with Garrius.

The scientist would always chuckle at her illness and then proceed to force her into some other situation that involved more of his lil' "cut 'em up" scenarios. Or more needles, filled with even more Mako and Jenova or whatever the hell else he put in those syringes. Sometimes he mixes other chemicals together and then injects them into her system and then talks to her about her chances of survival. And when she did survive he would laugh and then begin to proceed with some other experiment he had planned out for her, exclaiming of how "perfect" she was, and that she was "just like her father."

Which really made her wonder. Did he have to go through all of this torture when he was a child? Was he taken away from his parents like they took away hers? She really didn't know much about her family on her father's side coming to think of it. He never really mentioned it before. Occasionally perhaps, but when it came to family it was always on her mothers side.

"Netzach!"

The sudden yell made her jerk in surprise.

"Yes sir?"

"I thought I told you to run not walk."

"I have been running for the last hour. I'm ti-"

"No excuses child!"

"But I just need to sit for-"

"GET UP!"

The 12 year old sighed and picked herself up from the mud. She was already covered in it so why not sit in it? She had been running the track for a long while now and it was raining before hand. So really there was no chance in her keeping herself clean.

"Never mind just go wash up!"

"Thank you sir."

Netzach walked into the building, head down, trying to ignore the oncoming gazes of ShinRa executives, scientists and military SOLDIER officers and the like. The hallways were filled with all of them. And she knew she had to get to her room and take a shower fast since Garrius was sure to follow her up to her room and then lecture her on whatever it was she did wrong today. That and Hojo hated dirt on his floors. Another lecture she didn't want nor need.

Her uniform was a mess. It dragged in almost every piece of dirt off the field and into the building along with her. It was a dark blue, her uniform that is. It has a turtle neck sleeveless top like all the other first class SOLDIER uniforms and the same color for her pants. They were a big baggy but they fit her and gave some room to grow into. Her boots were brown and her pants were tucked into them just below her knee. She wore a brown shoulder pad on her left shoulder and it had the ShinRa logo engraved on it. Her belt was much like anything you find on a first class SOLDIER as well, brown and leather, just simpler and it connected with brown leather suspenders that were attached to her shoulder pad.

All in all she hated the uniform. Rufus, who had dropped by a few times, had said it suited her. She would just cross her arms and look away from the young Vice President. Why he still came to visit her, she had no clue. It really wasn't in his nature to get along with anyone. Unless it was business, and he had no business with her except for the fact that he liked to think he owned her. Just how he owned Dark Nation. His pet panther which usually tagged along with him these days whenever he came to visit.

Netzach came to a stop at one of the elevators. She pressed a button and patiently waited. Knowing that it may take awhile she leaned up against the side wall. Five minutes later and still no elevator. Now she was getting frustrated. But it wasn't her that was yelling out and swearing at the elevator.

"HEY! SHIT! What's wrong with this thing?"

The man had only been standing there for less then a minute and already he was cussing up a storm. He had messy flaming red hair and wore a blue suit, but he didn't really seem to keep himself tidy. His jacket was undone and his shirt was rustled up. While his friend in the background was impeccably unblemished. He was bald and wore dark sunglasses. She automatically thought "hitman" and then remembering Tseng with the blue suit she automatically thought "Turks."

Netzach couldn't really hide herself into the corner. It was a pretty open space. But she figured that since she was in the ShinRa building they wouldn't hurt her since she was obviously part of the company.

"Maybe if you stop fidgeting with it-"

"Oh don't give me that! I want to get to the 47th floor now! FUCK!"

They were both fairly young. Perhaps only a few years older then herself. Most likely in their early to mid teens, maybe a little bit older. The bald man cocked his head to the side and then peered over to her. At this time she really just wanted to sink into the wall.

"Reno. Don't use that kind of language around kids."

"Rude what you talking about?"

The bald man nodded his head in her direction.

"Oh" was all the red head could blurt out before saying he was sorry, and then protesting about how he didn't know she was there. Rude, as he was known, continued to just roll his eyes at his partner, and then stated that he should go around swearing just because he got his butt kicked by AVALANCHE.

Netzach just raised an eyebrow at the two of them and especially at them mentioning that rebel group again. She really wanted to ask questions but she thought it would be best not to. Perhaps she would ask Garrius later. He would more then gladly tell her a thing or two if it would get her into a more of a "fighting spirit" and into more military knowledge. Instead she decided to start out easy.

"Are you guys Turks?"

The red head laughed. "Yea and?"

"I was just wondering, you are wearing the blue suits."

"And what are you? Seem to be in SOLDIER."

"She's to young to be in SOLIDER."

"Shut up Rude. She IS wearing a uniform."

This time it was his turn to raise an eyebrow as he inspected her, and came upon a conclusion that what she was wearing was very similar to that of a SOLDIER first class uniform. And then noticed her snow white hair, and then the cat like eyes. "Damn she looks a lot like her father." He silently thought to himself.

"Netzach correct?"

The young girl just nodded in the Turks direction while his red headed friend was just a lil' but confused as to what exactly was going on.

"Wha…?"

"I'll tell you later Reno."

Moments later there was a "Bing" and the elevator doors opened. Netzach slid inside. It seemed the two Turks opted to take another elevator since she was alone when the doors closed. The bald Turk knew. He knew of her "sad story" and would tell his friend when the day was over most likely. Did everyone know? Did they take pity on her when she saw her coming down the hallways and back up to the labs? She really didn't know nor care. But still. People knowing things like that about her, she just didn't like it. She didn't want people to take pity on her just because fate was cruel. She really hated it when people made a fuss.

It must of taken her fifteen minutes or more to get to the 68th floor. And when she finally got there she was greeted with Hojos smug face. "Another lecture" was the first thought that came to mind. But instead all she got was a "Where have you been young lady?"

"Sorry…."

The man just mumbled something under his breath before turning away. She didn't know if she was to follow or not. The scientist was never to direct with orders unless he was furious about something.

"Do you need me for anything professor?" she hated asking such a stupid question. That she would ask almost sounded like begging, for him to slice her open and go about poking wherever he pleased.

"Not today. You may run off to your room."

Her eyes went wide for a moment in shock. She was sure he was going to drag her down the hall and pull out another syringe from his lab coat and pump something else into her system. But today he seemed quite distant. Off in some other thoughts, which thankfully didn't involve her. Netzach walked, well speed walked to her room. She flung herself around the corner and closed the door as soon as she was safe within her four walls.

John once again left her some dinner, it was chicken, cream corn and mashed potatoes. This time thankfully it was hot. There were a few instances there were he would bring her soup or pasta to her room, and then leave it there until she returned and it would be cold. But recently he seemingly got some sort of timing.

It was quite for the rest of the day. The professor only gave her one shot later on in the afternoon and John had came to visit her. That and Hojo had given her free reign around the floor, since she had been a "good girl" for the past month. Nothing happened until later that evening. There was an assignation attempt on the President. It was Garrius that flung her out of bed. Yelled at her to get into uniform and meet him downstairs on the main floor. She was going to go with him to the presidents house. And then proceed to either protect the ShinRa family or go after the criminal. Whichever way it was a great way for a rookie like her to learn something.

Netzach automatically thought about Rufus. Hoping that he was alright, it was also then she found herself thinking of the health and welfare of Rufus ShinRa. She muttered a loud "UGH!" before climbing into a clean uniform. Although she did let herself worry about Dark Nation. She had come to quite like the panther.

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YAY! Chapter 8! dances So yea. Next chapter it's more about a lil' mission and stuff and some action!

Well I guess I'll see you around!

-Fangy


	8. First Mission Pt 2

Alrighty! Time for a update eh? Well here it is! Enjoy, it gets to be a little more exciting here with a bit more action and a lot more to come!

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Netzach got dressed as fast as she possibly could, and then ran towards the elevator. She pressed the M button, and seemingly patiently waited by the sliding door. Although she was far from being patient. This was her first actual mission. It would take almost a year of training or more for a first class SOLDIER to be put on their first mission, but here she was at age twelve, being sent away on a mission that was in fact an assassination attempt on the CEO of ShinRa Inc.

It was happening all to fast. She wasn't thrilled about the situation, but she learnt all to well in the past month and a half that there wasn't really much she could do about her current position in life, yet anyways.

The elevator doors opened and Netzach casually walked in. It took time but she finally made it to the main floor. When she stepped out all she could see was a panic. Employees where scattered everywhere. SOLDIERS where getting themselves ready for any kind of attack on the ShinRa building. If the rebels would go so far as to try and kill the president then they may strike here next. 

Netzach made her way through the crowds and found Garrius at the front door patiently waiting for her. He took a quick glance at her before turning away and sneering.

"It's about time you showed up!"

"It won't happen again sir."

"It better not. This way."

Garrius lead the young girl out the door and into a military truck that had "ShinRa" labelled across the side. She wanted to cringe, it was the same kind of truck her father drove off in on the last night she saw him. Regardless however she hopped on. She sat there quietly listening to the other soldiers talk about the on goings of the ShinRa family and this little mishap. She disregarded it all. Truly it meant little to her. Her so called "job" was to investigate and perhaps arrest the criminal. Over and over again she heard "AVALANCHE" pop up in the conversation. Now she had to ask, her curiosity had gotten the best of her.

"Who or what is AVALANCHE?"

Garrius looked down on the young girl raising an eyebrow. He was somewhat taken back by her childish curiosity. This was something he could work with and perhaps mold into the curiosity and thought pattern of a soldier. But then again he already knew that would be easy enough. She had been showing signs of a strategic mind since the day she met him. Really she was just as Hojo said she was to be; a designed human being with a great thought pattern, agility and speed, that she is the product of science. Even if she was produced through natural means. Garrius remembered how he babbled on and on about Netzachs' file.

"AVALANCE is a group of rebel terrorist's child. Do you not watch the news?" 

"No not rea-"

"Then perhaps you should, in fact I want you to be watching the six O' clock news from now on, understood?"

The young girl just nodded. 

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After about 10 minutes they had arrived at the Presidents house, or rather mansion. Guards had been posted at every area outside the house, at every window or door. Also at every possible route to get inside, hence guards at drain pipes.

Garrius strode inside. He was a fairly tall man, about as tall as her father, but he wore the typical first class SOLDIER uniform with a few enhancements. He had a zipper down the middle of his shirt and it was undone until it met his belt, which was like every other SOLDIERS. Along with his pants and boots. All of them dark blue and brown. He had dirty blonde hair which was sort of pushed to one side so it hung until it met it's end near his lips. His blues eyes were menacing with the mako glow, but that's not what gave him the fearsome look, what did was the huge scare across his face. Netzach silently wondered why her father never mentioned a member of SOLDIER by the name of Garrius before. 

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"What's she doing here?"

A young blonde man in a pair of white silk pyjamas leaned his upper body down on the dark wooden banister.

"Garrius probably wants her trained to handle shit like this."

"I see Rude finally told you all the details."

"Yea I got to hear the kids' sad soppy story."

"Hrmph"

"How the hell do you know her anyways Mr. Vice Prez?"

Rufus never said a word as he silently watched Netzach from above. Reno just rolled his eyes at the young man, sighed, and then went back to juggling his lighter and sunglasses. Or rather attempted to juggle his lighter and sunglasses. 

"Stop that, you look pathetic Aren't you supposed to be protecting me or something?"

"Sure I am, but I'm trying to have a little fun while I'm at it. You do know I was pulled away from my beer just to cover your sorry ass."

"Lovely." 

"I wouldn't go that far about your ass."

"If I were you I would shut my mouth about now."

"Egad not the duct tape!"

This time it was Rufus' turn to roll his eyes as he kept his back to the Turk. "He must be drunk" he thought before turning his attention back to the happenings downstairs. 

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Meanwhile back down in the main hallway. Garrius had already begun to speak to other officers and officials. From what she could gather everyone in the household was just fine and dandy. The suspect they assumed was somewhere still in the household. That or he fled the vicinity and no one saw him, which was highly doubtful. She heard a few names, Shears, Elfe and Keela. But it seemed nothing was solid. The Presidents wife was in shock but the CEO himself had taken his work seriously and thus had taken this act against himself personally offensive, obviously. He had actually come to talk to Garrius, even though he was asked by many officials to stay in one spot where they could protect him if the need arises. "Stubborn." Netzach thought. "His money is worth more then his very life." 

"Garrius."

"Mr. President."

"Those bastards are still around the area of my house or so those filthy guards say. I should really deduct their pay for doing such a pathetic job. Find them. Kill them if you have to. I don't care. Just get them out of here."

"Yes sir!"

She watched Garrius salute the CEO before he retired to his bedroom for the night. Tseng followed him. The Turks were after all, the presidents own secret service so to say, their job was if anything to protect the ShinRa family. Especially the president himself. But they did a lot of other things on the side. Murder, kidnapping, basically they were sent out to stop whoever would bother to get in ShinRas way.

Garrius grunted before turning back to Netzach and the rest of his men. His calm composure had retained itself as she saw in his mako eyes. Although she could tell, he was frustrated. He wasn't very good at keeping his emotions in check. He was much older then herself obviously and he still hadn't been able to master that art. 

It was then she began to wonder why exactly hadn't the President been evacuated? "Why is he still here? Shouldn't he be brought to a safe place with the rest of his family if AVALANCHE is still around?"

"You don't know the CEO very well do you little girl?" Garrius grunted.

"I only met him a few times, but nothing really-"

"Quiet"

Netzach really wanted to roll her eyes, but that would mean disrespect and disrespect means a slap on the hand or in her case the face. So she kept quiet, for the time being anyways.

"Yes sir." 

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Garrius kept soldiers on patrol around the president's house for the entire evening. She remembered how humorous it was to watch the President refuse any medical attention. While his wife tried to insist on the idea. An hour later he finally gave in, although she saw a very dangerous glint in the mans eyes when he looked at his wife when he finally gave into her demands. Netzach started to think of what exactly he may do to her once this was all done. She really didn't like the look in his eyes. They were not the eyes of a friendly man.

It wasn't until about one in the morning something began to stir. Something was on the move. Netzach sensed it and obviously so did Garrius.

"It's coming."

Garrius turned his back to the window and walked over to his men. That's exactly when they made their move. A women leaped through the very glass window Garrius was standing at moments ago.

"Get them!"

"DOWN WITH SHINRA!"

The woman was about 5'9 at least. She had long shoulder length black hair which ended in ringlets. Her build was slim but sturdy. She had a good amount of muscle on her, which she demonstrated by the fact that she wielded a electromatic rifle, which were these rather ridicules large guns that released a electric pulse which would either stun someone or kill them instantly.

She sat still for a moment, motionless. Before she slowly lifted her upper body and revealed her face. Her eyes were closed but in time they slowly opened. They were blue, a stunning light blue. The kind of blue you saw in the skies over Costa del Sol.

Netzach was stunned for a moment. But before she knew it the women before her was on the move. She easily took down five grunt soldiers. Garrius stood with his arms crossed watching her as she slaughtered his men. She pulled out a knife from her belt and quickly stabbed one in the neck; another she slit the basilic vein, leaving him to slowly bleed to death on the floor. The third she slashed across the chest and then entangled him in her arms and twisted him around so she stood behind him so it would give her full access to his throat. Which she slit as well. The two others she disposed of quickly, a shot in the head to the both of them.

To Netzach this was really nothing new, although it was her first on location mission. "Heartless" she thought. The women then darted towards Garrius himself. He was prepared however. But so was she. The women leaped at the general and engaged with him as he pulled out his broad sword.

The fight between the warriors did not last long. She grew tired of the general, where he had not yet broken a sweat, seemingly. The women really stood no chance against a ShinRa SOLDIER officer, especially a General. Although he thought it was foolish of her to try and back out of the fight so soon. To him it was a sign of weakness. It was better to die as a warrior then to die a coward. But he did find her somewhat entertaining. Although she did surprise him as she swiped a longer dagger from her belt and pierced him through his stomach. It was her time to laugh.

With only Netzach alive and the general sitting on the floor bleeding the woman saw no threat from the child and silently made her way to the CEOs bedroom. Within time she vanished into the hallway.

"Ne…Netzach"

Her eyes darted towards the General.

"Yes sir."

"Stop her. I cannot. Hold her off. I'll be there as soon as…. I can." 

She nodded. "Yes sir."

She turned her back towards the bleeding man and slowly walked in the same direction the woman had earlier taken.

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A little more excitement eh? It's only going to get better as we go along, sorry for the long wait.

-Fangy


	9. First Mission Pt 3

Chapter 10! YAY! XD Enjoy ladies and gentlemen!

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Her breaths got deeper the further along she drove herself into the darkened hallway. Her heartbeat was racing. Her feet were nimble, and she felt dizzy from the simple idea of chasing this woman into god knows where. In her mind the CEO was hardly worth it. But she didn't want to face Garrius. He may be currently down and out for the count, but that wouldn't last for long. He let the woman take advantage of him in that particular situation. That's what he would say. Personally she honestly thought he didn't expect her to pull a knife on him. But whatever the case, he would be back. And at that point in time he would do anything to strike her down. She also supposed he would say that this was an excellent training session.

Netzach tried to quiet herself down. She was being far too loud and would cause attention to herself. She knew it, but she couldn't stop. And for her weakness she cursed herself. "Get a hold of yourself", she thought. The young girl shook her head before placing her hand on the wall to her right and continuing down the hallway.

She really didn't know where she was going. Everything was so dark. And so silent. Well silent until she heard a clatter which seemed to be pretty close. Her feet picked up as she ran towards the noise. The closer she got the slower she became. She turned a corner and down a new hallway she could see a light was turned on. A shadow stretched out onto the walls beyond the doorframe. It was her. The women that burst through the window earlier. Was it to late? Had she found the president and killed him? She was found to be wrong when she heard gunshots. "Tseng" her eyes widened. "Tseng went with them. Did they plan this from the beginning? Why would he use himself and his wife as bait?" A millions questions ran through her head before another gunshot ran through the air. A few more before she heard a yelp. Then some swearing. She hid behind the wall and peered around the corner and listened into the conversation.

"Your Turk, your protection is dead Mr President. Now it is time for you to follow."

"You bitch, When I get my-"

The woman raised her arm with gun in hand and pointed it at the CEO. A gun shot and then a scream. "The wife obviously" she thought.

"Sorry Mr. President." A familiar voice once again entered the scene.

The women hobbled across the floor. She was bleeding. Badly. She dropped the gun. Tseng entered the hallway to finally take down the woman, but she seemed to have gotten a second gust of wind before she took off. Racing towards the corner where Netzach stood. She couldn't let her get away. There was nothing right or wrong about it, it was just what she had to do to keep herself uninjured from Garrius' beatings. She stepped out right before the woman could turn the corner. "You're not going anywhere." Her face was emotionless. The woman's, well it was surprised to see a mere child halting her way. She would of said something threatening to the child. If she already didn't have two bullets in her body, one fairly close to her heart. The other in her stomach. And as she stood there a third entered her body. Near the last bullet. It was simple. She was dieing. But she would die a warrior's death. Tseng had a gun to the woman's back. She passed a dagger over to Netzach and placed it in her hands.

"Kill me"

"I would gladly-"

"The child"

"I…." she stuttered. Tseng looked at the young girl. "She is just a child. You will die by my hands or-"

"NO! If I will die then I must die by hers. Then she will it the last wishes-"

"I think not"

"Tseng…."

The Turk stopped in his tracks. "I'll do it" she whispered. "She's dieing anyways, and one should be given their last wishes. Even if they are a terrorist."

Netzach looked at the woman, placed one hand on her shoulder and slid the blade into her flesh. The rebel woman took in deep breaths. A single tear rolled down her face automatically bringing flashbacks of her mother's death back to the young girls mind. The woman looked the child in the eyes and spoke to her one last time. "You have… taken a life…. Now…your innocence will never… blind yo-"

Netzach backed away from the woman as Tseng came forward and examined the body. He checked her pulse, there was non. The child had actually killed her.

It was a mystery to her, as to why she agreed to do it. Why she agreed to kill the woman. She figured the rebel thought it was best to die by what weapons she wielded, to die with a little bit of "honour". But what the AVALANCHE member had said to her would stay with her for many nights to come.

She walked out of the hallway, the rebel's knife still in hand, into the main room where Garrius was waiting for her. He still looked a bit sore. He was being treated. Tseng stayed with the president of course. She didn't see any of them come out after the little incident. She figured that tonight was a little overpowering. Especially for Mrs. ShinRa.

"Well what do we have here? A little girl with a blood stained knife."

"The AVALANCHE member is dead."

"I can see."

It was really hitting home now that she just took a life. It was never supposed to happen like this. She didn't come here to kill someone. But it happened, and she still carried the damn bloody knife around with her. She couldn't let it go. It was like a last reminder of whatever sin she committed and a painful regret of the cleanliness she once possessed. Now that was all washed away in blood. A single question, answered. That's all it took. Why the hell didn't she just let Tseng kill her? He's a bloody Turk; he should be used to it. The girl sighed. Garrius smiled at her in a menacing way. It was going to be so much easier to train her from here on out.

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She was taken back up to her room that night. Hojo met her as she walked down the hallway. He walked past her then stopped. He didn't turn to greet her. He just simply stopped and then spoke.

"I presume the President is alive and well."

Netzachs eyes darted towards the ground. "You presume right, Professor."

"Ahhh good then. Was it AVALANCHE?"

"Yes, it was. She was an assassin. She failed though."

"Garrius get her?"

"No"

"No? Then-"

"I did."

Hojo slowly turned around on his feet until he was face to face with his most prized specimen. "You did?"

Her eyes darted towards the floor again. She never said a word as she took some steps back, turned and then ran down the hallway finding her room and closing the door behind her. Hojo on the other hand, even though he had scolded her many times for "not running away while he was speaking to her" cared little for her behaviour tonight. She killed someone. This was progression enough. 

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Elsewhere, back at the ShinRa mansion, outside in the gardens. A young man strode past some rose bushes as he was following up on an order he gave out.

"You've failed me for the last time. I'm cutting the funding!"

"I don't care, you failed me! You were supposed to of sent your best. You obviously did not."

"Should I care if Keela had been going through some issues? She was supposed to take out my old man, and she was killed off by a Turk. I thought you trained…. What do you mean she wasn't killed by a Turk?"

"SOLDIER? Yes they where there? A child? Where did you get this information? Ahhh I see. Well it seems I'm going to have to do something about your little spies aren't I?"

"NO YOU LISTEN TO ME!" he tried not to raise his voice, but to still give off a yelling effect. But fortunately for him, simply talking to these people he could tip the cup in his direction any day. But he always loved to instil a little bit of fear in the "common folk". "I funded this project! I make the rules, you don't DARE go behind my back and send in some bloody whores dressed as maids to wander around my old mans house unless you have my consent. Do you realize you could of ruined us both?"

Silence as he listened to the pleading of the woman on the other end.

"Yes, yes…. Look Elfe. I'll give you all another chance. Just don't try my patience again. It's very unusual for me to be this friendly, understood? Wonderful! I'll send a check and some paperwork for you to sign in about two weeks, alright? Heh goodbye."

Rufus ShinRa hung up his cell phone before placing it back into his pocket. He smirked at the news he just received. He was there but he was scurried off into his room by Reno when the woman came crashing through the window. He didn't know much of what was going on after that.

"Twelve years old and your already a cold blooded killer Netzach. Well you beat my record. A shame."

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Hrmmmm getting a bit more interesting eh?

Chapter 11 to come soon!

-Fangy


	10. Day around the Office

This chapter is a bit longer! YAY! It's going to get interesting next chapter to! Anyways enjoy!

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It had been roughly around two weeks since her encounter with the AVALANCHE assassination ordeal. Two weeks, in just that amount of time she found herself the title of a killer. She would walk down the hallways and SOLDIER officers would silently congratulate her on her success. She was now "one of them." A pawn of a higher power. A government that is corrupted to its very core. And once again she found herself desperately wanted to find a way of this hideous building.

Her thoughts crossed her mind as she stood there silently alone, in the shower. Spreading the soap around her aching body. The pain was not only caused by the training she was forced to endure but also by the brutality of Garrius. If she disobeyed. She was beaten. She remembered about 3 days ago, he was beating her for not completing her movements swiftly enough. She would fall each time because the man was far too powerful for her to compete against. It seemed he held back but not all too often. He would fight her as if she was any other warrior on the field. She fought back with all the strength she could muster, and more some. Where she got the energy she hadn't a clue. But it kept coming. And she kept attacking and blocking from fatal blows. Hitting back, until the gusts of wind stopped coming and she was broken, beaten, and just limp. He beat her even then. This was the average day of training with General Garrius. He said it would make her into a proper warrior, a respectful SOLDIER. Even if it killed her it seemed. If it hadn't been for Hojo she would probably be dead right now. He noticed the Generals behaviour, and silently walked with electromatic rod in hand. Electrocuted Garrius from behind. Netzach remembered how the General sneered at the Professor and told him to "mind his own business." Hojo replied with a "But my dear general, Netzach is in each and everyway my business. I do need her alive to complete my project, so be gentle with her from now on General. Or I'll have you removed from the military."

She can't believe how she would owe anything to that madman. But now she owed Hojo her life. Not that he cared or anything. All she was to him was a scientific project. Nothing more. And a live specimen is best, as we all know. But it still didn't stop the "training" completely.

The silver haired girl grabbed a towel, dried herself off and walked back into her room. She dressed herself in the simple white clothing she had been wearing for the last month and opened the door to welcoming hallway outside. She just casually strolled down the stark white hallways. Saying hi to a few people as she passed them by. Everyone seemed to of gotten to know her a bit now. She was after all a permanent resident here now, so why not get to know a few faces and names? However the only one person she really trusted on the floor was John. It was strange really she hadn't made any sort of personal link with the man, it was simply because of the fact that he was always kind to her. She narrowed the corner expecting to find him. But….

"Netzach…."

"Where's John?"

"I fired him. He was useless!"

She couldn't believe it. Hojo had fired John! A simple "oh" was her only remark as she was about to turn and head back around the corner.

"The man couldn't organize a damn thing even if his life depended on it, which a shame it wasn't." The Professor shook his head. "Netzach?"

The girl stopped but did not turn to face the scientist. "Yes?"

"Come with me."

She could have run, then and there. She was far enough away from him. But he would find her eventually and do whatever he pleased. Better to get it over and done with. So she followed the Professor into one of his main labs.

"I did a procedure on you yesterday, don't worry I'm not going to do anything to you, so you can rest your worries child. Although you do need your mako needle today don't you?" Within a short amount of time the man filled a syringe with the familiar glowing green substance. She didn't fidget anymore these days. She just sat there and took the shot. "Now." He started as he threw the syringe away. "Since John has been "disposed of" I need an assistant, and I think it's high time you learn a thing or two about science. From a different point of view that is, hehehehe." The girl cringed. "You know how to fight my dear, obviously since you did such a wonderful job the last time around. Perhaps I should now teach you a thing or two that Garrius obviously does not know, and that my dear is to use ones head. Hehehehe."

"What would you have me do today Professor?"

The scientist cocked his head to the side and looked at her with mere amusement behind his spectacles. "What would I have you do today?" He smiled at the thought. "Have you ever wondered where my magnificent creatures down that hallway where you stumbled specimen #42 come from hrmmm?"

"Not really."

"HA! Well today you're going to find out! Follow!"

Netzach just stood there for a second as the scientist wandered off.

"Don't make me drag you Netzach!"

The girl sighed and quickly caught up to the man. Several minutes had seemingly past and not a word was said between the two of them until the Professor spoke up. "You know all my specimens have a number, and yet you are the only one that does not."

"I rather not have a number"

"Hehehehe. No you wouldn't. But neither did your father and he still got one. So really my dear you're getting one. The problem is thinking of one."

She really couldn't understand, if the madman was going to give her a number then why couldn't it just be at random. She didn't care. It's not like it was going to replace her name, right? But then again. Hojo called all his other specimens by numbers. Which made her wonder if they to ever had a name. Did they simply forget theirs? Would she forget hers if she was given a number?

"How does #7 sound to you?"

The girl was silent. She automatically hated it, but kept quiet as the man chuckled.

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Two hours later she found herself in a lab with the scientist passing him tools so he could conduct his business on specimen that apparently been getting quite sick after so many dosages of some chemical she couldn't name. The man already had a few blood stains on his white lab coat, but he seemed to be enjoying every moment of it. She could tell. He had the same face he had when he "conducted his business" with her.

What made her sick was the fact that the specimen looked human, well was human at one point in time. And here she was, just making this… things life even more horrible by passing the Professor the tools he needed to expand his research on the poor thing.

The professor was going to make her follow him around all day. Apparently next he had some appointments with SOLDIER members that were getting ill from high or low mako levels. And she was to follow him. She became the lackey of the day, or that's how she felt. Is was then there was a sudden knock at the door and Hojos act of sighing and almost throwing down his tools and taking off his gloves to signalling whoever it was to come in, displeased him obviously. A man opened the door. She recognized him immediately.

"President ShinRa would brings you down here?"

She feared the man, perhaps even more so then Hojo himself since she had become used to the scientists presence.

"A few things Hojo. Like how-"

The girl stood where she had been standing for the last hour, and looked up at the CEO.

"My My. So you're the one that was at the house that night, weren't you? The child that killed the terrorist."

"Yes sir"

The President chuckled loudly, an act which seemingly annoyed the hell out of Hojo who just stood off to the corner waiting for the President to end his conversation with the child and turn to the more important matter at hand, whatever that may be.

"Damn she looks just like her father!"

"Indeed she does sir. White hair and all. Hehehehe. We've put her through some extensive training the past month. She has shown much progress."

"I can see! I guess I should congratulate you on your very first kill! Those damnable AVALANCHE have been a thorn in my backside for far too long and here we have a child killing on of their top assassins. Bloody brilliant if you ask me! Hojo!"

The scientist obviously hated answering to this man but he was the only one giving him any kind of funding. "Yes Mr President?"

"Meeting tonight, about mako levels, be there."

"Of course sir."

"Oh and make sure to keep this one in line, it would be nice to have another Sephiroth around here. If the girl can kill at such a young age then she could be of much service to ShinRa."

"Hehehehe, oh don't worry Mr. President she will be, if anything, a perfect example of the capabilities of SOLDIER and the Jenova Project."

The President obviously came down here for another reason then to just tell Hojo there was a meeting tonight. There was a little something more. Netzach knew it. The CEO rubbed Netzach on the head, thus messing up her hair, and then left the room. Hojo stormed back to his work and called for Netzach to pass him another tool. He was upset, that was for sure.

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Hojo had stopped "playing" and was now going about his business with the ill SOLDIERS. All of whom were glad to see her, since she was a refreshing face to see instead of having, and to quote an officer "Hojos ugly mug." She wanted to laugh at that remark, but standing ear shot from the man would not be the most idea of locations to do it. They all seemed nice. Netzach talked with a few of them. But one in particular caught her attention.

"You knew Zackary Knightblade?"

The two men before her had been talking of Zacks possible whereabouts and their fond times spent with him as Netzach read a magazine since she had pestered Hojo far to much and was ordered to "pester someone else."

"Yea I knew Zack. What about him?"

"Uhhh I used to know him to. He was sent on a mission with my da- err with Sephiroth right? But he never came back."

"Heh neither did the general, so what's your point kid?"

"I… don't know. I guess I just wanted to know if you knew where he was…. That's all"

"Kid if we do get word of Zacks whereabouts. I'll let ya know ok?" The SOLIDER shrugged as his friend was called off for his exam. His friend being one of the SOLDIER members that had been sick from the mako injections.

"Would you?"

"Sure, it seems he meant a lot to ya."

"He did."

"Oh and if we hear anything about your dad-"

"My Dad?"

"General Sephiroth, ain't that right Netzach?"

It wasn't like she was completely shocked or anything. In fact she wasn't all that surprised. But still, this random stranger knew who she was, and she didn't recognize him.

"How did….?"

"Used to be a friend of Zacks remember? I met your father a few times off the field as well. I think I even met you once, but you were much smaller back then."

Netzach smiled for the first time in a very long time. She giggled as well. She felt somewhat embarrassed and she didn't know why.

"Why you here anyways kid, shouldn't you be with your mom?"

Her smile faded. "My mom isn't…. She's gone. This is… the only place I have left now."

The SOLDIER got the message. Hojo was one cruel bastard that much he knew, but he didn't think the mad scientist would go this far. He shook his head at the mere thought.

"So…. You know my name so what's yours?"

Changing the tone of the conversation back to a pleasant one Netzach asked a simple question.

"Derek."

"Last name?"

"Ha ok. Aimsworth. Derek Aimsworth. What about you?"

"Don't you know my last name?"

"Enlighten me." Derek chuckled as she got up and took a bow. Her head looked up and met his eyes. Her white hair falling over top of them like a curtain. "Cresent, Netzach Cresent."

"Well nice to meet you Netzach Cresent."

"And you to Derek Aimsworth."

She smiled at the thought of telling people her name and not her number. Smirked at the thought of how Hojo would respond to it. Strange however, how the Professor still called her by her name and not her number. But nonetheless, the little rebellion towards him made her all the more happy.

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Netzach had spent all of her day following Hojo around. She was thankful when it was time to hit the hay. But it was a sleep that she would soon be woken from as two hands shook her back into reality from her nightmares. In some ways she was thankful, but on the other hand her nightmares weren't as bad as they had been. She was actually getting some form of sleep tonight. So in another way she was furious. She was about to argue when she looked up and saw Tseng.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know it's 3am?"

The Turk only looked down at her. "Please, dress yourself and meet me outside your door."

"Why?"

"The President wishes to speak with you."

"Huh?"

"If I were you I would hurry along."

Tseng walked out and she could clearly see his silhouette outside her door. She began to worry. Had she done something wrong? Usually it was Hojo wanting to see her in the middle of the night. Not the CEO of ShinRa Inc.

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oOOOOooo I wonder what the President is gonna make her do or say to her or whatever. Well stay tuned I guess and you'll find out! XD

Anyways later!

-Fangy


	11. Unexpected

Thank you for all the wonderful comments and reviews! They do encourage me to write more! Plus they are helpful. Anyways Chapter 12 is here! Enjoy folks!

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Tseng lead her down the hallway past Hojos office. The Professor saw her as she and the Turk passed by. He never said a word. He just cringed. Not that he cared or anything but he had a good idea what the President wanted with her and he didn't like it one bit. It would take her away from the labs from time to time. So unfortunately for him it would mean time less spent on "redesigning" her and more time on Mako Reactors and giving some sort of attention to SOLDIER. She saw how disappointed he was and quickly caught up to Tseng.

Netzach spoke up amongst the silence. "What does the President want with me?"

"You will have to ask him yourself Netzach."

"…Ok."

She was kind of hoping for an answer straight from the Turk himself, but no such luck. If there was anything she had learnt about Tseng was that he was a quiet man. And very secretive when need be.

"Does this have anything to do with….what happened two weeks ago? Because if it is, I'm sorry… for whatever I did."

Tseng stopped in his tracks and turned to face the child before him. He looked down at her, in an almost calming way. But then again when was this man not calm? "It has nothing to do with the events of two weeks ago."

Netzachs eyes darted from right to left then to her feet before she muttered an almost silent "oh." She wanted to continue walking. But Tseng just stood there over looking her.

"Netzach?"

She felt awkward. This was the same man after all that witnessed her downfall into becoming a murderer. "You know they would have done worse things to her if you hadn't done what you did. It was a better fate for her and she knew it. Better to be put to death at your hands rather then my own or the hands of another in ShinRa. Although actually it is myself that should be asking for forgiveness."

The girls head raised and her eyes look softly up to the Turk. "Why?" It was a simple question. One he should be able to answer.

"Because I simply stood there and let you go through with it. It was a wrong on my behalf." Again her eyes looked down to the floor beneath her feet, white strands of hair covered her face. "Oh. I…."

"This way."

The stoic Turk led the way into the evaluator. He held the door open until she caught up and slipped in herself. It was only a couple of floors up to the 70th. The two remained silent for the rest of the trip as he accompanied her into the Presidents office. The secretary knew Tseng, she gave him a sweet smile before she returned to her work. He acknowledged her but never returned the smile. He probably never did. But then again being "nice" was never in the Turks job description.

She was beginning to be nervous as she walked up the stairs towards the CEOs office. She felt the sudden urge to slow down, she did and Tseng noticed. He looked back to her over his shoulder. He didn't say anything but she saw some sort of encouragement in his eyes. It was only for a moment before he turned his gaze back to what lay in front of him. He walked into the office with her, and there she stood before a very large desk. Tseng automatically went to the President side. Not that she would do anything it was just his place so to speak.

"Sir."

The ageing man looked up from his paper work. He must have been in his late forties, perhaps even early fifties. It was amazing enough to her that even though his hair was thinning it was still blond. He was overweight and he wore a gaudy red, yet immaculate suit. He stood up and looked at her for a second as he organized his paperwork to put it aside for the moment.

"I'm sorry there are no chairs or I would offer you a seat."

"…..It's… ok. I don't need one."

"Ah, straight to business then eh?" Netzach only looked at the man curiously. She dared even enough to look him in the eyes. However this time she saw none of the anger swelling up in them. Although the look and the feel he gave off she certainly didn't like.

"Your much like your father Netzach, he was never one for small talk either. But I only have a short amount of time so I'll be quick. Netzach, let's say I have a favour of you to ask?" The silver hair girl took in a deep breath. "What is this favour?"

"Something is going on, on the inside of ShinRa Inc. I have some terrible feelings about my son, Rufus. I believe he's been doing some things he shouldn't."

"Like what?"

After flicking a lighter a few times he lit a cigar. He took a few puffs of it before he cradled it in his right hand, in between his fingers. This wasn't something that was easy for him she figured, but she also felt as if he was waiting for this….whatever it was.

"My dear boy has been up to some rather nasty things, many I can't prove because he's hidden his tracks well. A little to well if you ask me. He's always trying to prove he could run the company better then myself, and-"

"Do you mean to say, Mr President? That your own son is trying to kill you so he could take over the company?"

"Smart one isn't she Tseng?" Netzach wasn't really that shocked by the news. Rufus had been acting rather suspicious, even on the day of their reunion when she was caught in the rafters. He was talking to someone that night. But since ShinRa has been know to knock off whomever the pleased… but then again maybe that's why Rufus would feel as if he could just kill his father and be done with it. He's ordered to have others killed so why not his old man to?

"You have seemed to have gotten to know him a bit. The boy doesn't have many friends. He's quiet a bit of a loner!"

She obviously didn't like where this was going. "What does this got to do with me Mr President?"

"To the point indeed. You my dear are going to strengthen your relationship with him. Find out what the hell he is planning and-"

"And then what?" She was speaking out of tone, it meant disrespect. But really, she didn't give a damn. She didn't care for the morals that went along with meeting the CEO of ShinRa Inc. The whole idea had slipped her mind, she almost forgotten what "manners" where if it were not for John… but now he's gone. "Then…."

"Then I'll have a little "chat" with the boy. He doesn't deserve this company, not yet. It is mine and I will see to how it operates. Unfortunately he is my only heir. However, I will not stand idly by while my own son orchestrates my assassination. These are your new orders my girl. Befriend Rufus, discover his course of action and report back. Use whatever method you think will be of value to you. Stand by them and do no hinder from them is that understood?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was to spy on Rufus ShinRa. What if he caught on? What would he do with her?

"Why me sir?"

"You're the only one that is in the company that is close enough to his age. Now I'm giving you free access around the entire ShinRa building for you to be able to follow him around."

"But the Prof-"

"Hojo will cooperate or he looses his job and his precious funding. If Rufus were to wish to take you somewhere with him, you will have to ask of course, but as I said Hojo will cooperate. Although you are still required for Hojos "project". You are still to report to him at your usual time, understood?" The girl simply nodded, she was given some freedom finally but it was only to spy on Rufus. The rest of it was the same. She still had to go in for "sessions" with Hojo, still had to do her training with Garrius, and she was still a specimen.

"This is your first big mission Netzach. Do not fail ShinRa." It almost sounded like a threat. The "Do not fail ShinRa" bit. And at the sound of it her heart almost skipped a beat. The old man didn't seem to notice, he just went back to sit at his desk to finish up whatever paperwork he had. "Tseng will fill you in on the rest as he escorts you back to your quarters." It was the last thing he said to her.

She walked out of that office with a new dread. A new fear. Tseng quietly escorted her back into the elevator. He didn't say a word, since nothing needed to be said. It was a shame though. She and Rufus actually had some sort of bond, even though all they did was taunting one another. But it was a bond nonetheless.

The ride down was silent. Until the girl broke the silence. The Turk glanced down at her for a moment before he raised his head again to look at the doors of the elevator.

"Aren't you supposed to "fill me in"?"

"If you want."

"Sure."

"You know your mission Netzach. You are to start tomorrow, after you've received your treatment from Professor Hojo first thing in the morning. Your training session with General Garrius will take place after that as it always does. He as well has been notified of your importance in this mission."

"Garrius knows?" Wonderful she thought, he would use this for some sort of training she knew it. "Not really" The girl looked up at the Turk in surprise. "All that he is aware of is that you are to be involved in a special ops that is fully controlled by Turk members. And only Turk members. He is not to ask questions. So if he starts to hound you tell him that he will have to come talk to myself, understood?"

"Yea, I guess."

The elevator stopped. They were back on the 68th floor. Tseng took her back to her room, waited until she had covered herself in her blankets and closed the door. Hojo was no where in sight. But she could hear him down the hall. After the Turk left the Professor peered into her room, letting a slit of light shin past his figure.

"I know you're not asleep." His tone was still stiff as ever, even if it was only a whisper. Netzach remained silent; she was tired and really didn't feel like battling it out with the scientist tonight.

"Just to let you know since tomorrow you're starting off on your little adventure, I'm doubling your intake."

He left after that. Netzach actually for once not caring rolled over and went to sleep, afraid of what kind of trouble she would find herself in as she followed Rufus around. Was he really trying to kill his father off? Was he the one that planned the entire ordeal that happened two weeks ago at the ShinRa mansion? And how long had the President known about this, or at least assumed that his own son was out for his blood?

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So what ya think eh? Yes I know? Where is the action. Oh trust me its coming! Everything so far is leading up to something BIG! XD Hoped ya enjoyed it though! See ya around and don't forget to comment and review and all that fun stuff!

-Fangy


	12. Winning him over

Firstly I would like to thank –incessant embers- for noticing a rather stupid mistake of mine! It seems Chapter 12 was in script format…. And for some reason or another I didn't notice! I did but I didn't. Sorry I've just been out of it for awhile. Lots of things been going on. So yea sorry about that. Anyways here is Chapter 13! Not in script format! YAY! XD

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She slept fairly well. The Professors threats did little or nothing to discourage her of getting some fresh air, even if it was to spy on Rufus. At least, well hopefully, she would get a chance to goof around with Dark Nation. She always did enjoy the company of the panther. And he seemingly enjoyed her presence.

She was excited to say the least; she was even up and dressed before Hojo could creep in and wake her up for her morning mako shot. "Aren't we lively today?" The man was seriously dissatisfied with this outcome. Frustrated. She could tell. He had the same look upon him as he did last night when he saw her being taken up to see the President on the top floor.

"Can't I just get my shot and go?" She looked up to the man with almost pleading eyes, although her frowned deepened when he spoke up about her request. "No" She wanted to question why? But she knew that would get her no where as it always did.

"We will go through the daily routine as usual. Now come along my dear." The girl sighed, flipped on some slippers, and followed the scientist. Along the way he stopped to talk to some of his "underlings", told some of them to get to work, others he found himself amused by. Mostly because of whatever information they had found Hojo would most likely find to be useful in some near future project. One of the lucky scientist not to get yelled at by Hojo was a man by the name of Glidisgh; well it was his last name anyways. Netzach wasn't exactly sure what his first name was. He found something. And Hojo was most intrigued.

And as any child she grew bored quickly. And annoyed. All she wanted to do was get this over and done with, get her shot, get to training, and then go find Rufus. But it was just impossible. She knew as well if she was late for training, even if she did tell the General that it was Hojo that was keeping her, he would have a thing or two to say about her tardiness. And it wasn't going to be with his tongue that's for sure.

"Professor" She had stood there for long enough. She grabbed the mans lab coat and tugged a bit. "Professor" No answer still, he ignored her. If she didn't hate the man enough as it was, now she abhorred him.

"PROFESSOR!"

Hojo turned around and glared at her. "And what is so important with you young lady?" Her eyes wanted to wander somewhere else, away from the horrid man. But she stood strong. "Can't you do this later, I mean… I do have other things to do." Great now she was going to get it.

Or at least she thought she was, but then again when the man laughed it meant all sorts of strange things. "So you do my dear." She almost shielded herself from a slap or whatever he was going to give her way, but she received nothing. Instead the scientist told his so called peer that they would have to presume later and started to walk off towards the labs.

"Strange," was all she said before she followed him.

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The morning had been rough, Hojo was unexpected however in his actions. Unfortunately for her Garrius was not. The training he put her through today was a session of strength against a Valron. It was apparently some type of monster they had captured around the Nibel area. The Military did that, they captured these monstrous creatures and had recruits fight them in order to see if any of them were capable of becoming a SOLDIER first class. Most recruits could simply put up a hand and be disqualified if they were to afraid or to injured. Netzach on the other hand had no option of wussing out and raising her hand.

Although she was somewhat glad she was not fighting Garrius himself. The Valron she simply used a sense materia on it and she automatically knew how strong the creature was and how long it would take to batter it down. It took awhile, and many torn bleeding cuts afterwards the creature was dead. Garrius stood off to the side, arms crossed as they always were, and looked at her. He simple said he was pleased with her actions then dismissed her, also announcing that she would meet with him tonight. There was a thing or two he wanted to teach her.

That was little over an hour now. It was only eleven in the morning. Usually, after her training. Hojo would drag her around for a few more experiments and tests before he left her alone for the day, but not today. Today she was on a special mission. And not even Hojo could interfere. She smirked at the thought.

The young girl dressed herself in the only clothing she had. The simple white pants, shirt and hoodie. And exited her door and out into the hallway and made her way to the elevators. She froze for a moment before going any further. What if the guards had not been informed of her new rights? Netzach shook her head. "Of course they have. Hojo would loose his funding if he didn't tell them." She took in a deep breath and approached the elevators. She pressed the button, look up at the guard to her right. He didn't say a word, and didn't even fidget when she slipped through the doors. "What a relief," She thought.

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Moments later she found herself on the 66th floor. It was the "business floor" after all. And Rufus ShinRa was all about business. But really she figured that he would be in the meeting with the rest of the higher ups in the company. At least she hoped he was.

She hung around the door for a bit, she heard voices, but non of them belonged to Rufus. "He could just be the silent type, and no-" that's when she stopped herself. "Rufus? The silent type? What was I thinking?" However she shook her thoughts out of her head when she heard him through the doors.

Netzach leaned up against the door. She could understand what was being said, But Rufus was defiantly in there, along with Hojo it seemed. He didn't attend the meetings unless he was absolutely required to be there. From what she knew of the man he hated being surrounded with all those "pea brained monkeys".

The girl shrugged and leaned up against the wall and slowly began to descend to the floor. She sat there for a good half hour before she heard some movement behind the doors. The girl sat up quickly and put herself back on her feet. Now the fear was beginning to build, not of Rufus per say, just exactly what she was going to say to him. She hadn't planned that out. "Oh well, no time. Here they come"

Reno and Rude were the first to exit the doors. They gave her a glance before they passed her by. Well Rude glanced at her, Reno smiled. They knew, they were Turks. Hojo was the second to leave. He didn't say a word to her as he strolled by her towards the stairs. Hojo liked to walk, it apparently cleared his mind, or that's what he said anyways. And from the looks of it he needed it since had a lot on his mind, or so it seemed. The CEO himself was the third person to leave with Tseng by his side as usual. He gave her a nod as Tseng took a quick glance at her and then at the direction Reno and Rude had left. Whatever it was it didn't seem to matter since he just followed the CEO back to his office, or at least that's where she presumed he was off to.

Inside the room she saw Rufus putting away his papers and things into his briefcase. Across the table from him was a women wearing a bright red, and long dress. It looked more like some sort of evening gown. Netzach quietly questioned as to why the woman would be wearing such a thing in a office. And whoever she was she was bickering with a man in a green military uniform. As the two battled it out between one another, a man wearing a simple suit walked out. He was seemingly just trying to get away from the two opposed Rufus. Since he was trying to be as quiet as he could be.

It didn't work however. "Reeve! Get back here!"

The man sighed, "Yes Scarlet?"

"Kya ha ha ha ha!"

The man in the green joined her as she chased after Reeve. Netzach cringed at the woman's laugh, and so did Rufus, she could see it in his face. The girl darted passed the trio and into the room.

"Hi!" It was simple enough she thought. She smiled at the Vice President, put her hands in her pockets and did something he would do every time he would come visit her. She rocked herself back and forth on her feet, from heel to toe.

"What are you doing here?" Netzach frowned. "What do you mean what am I doing here?"

"I thought you were not allowed off the 68th floor."

"Things change."

" I see…."

This wasn't going anywhere. She figured the meeting hadn't gone well. At least for him. But then again he wasn't the only one that had a sour look on his face when they walked out of those doors.

"Hojo gave me access to the entire building! Cool huh?"

"For you I guess."

"Yea! So I thought since today is my official first day of being able to hang out I thought maybe you'd show me around?"

"Perhaps another time."

Damn it! Now this really wasn't going anywhere and if was in any direction it was down the tube. She had to get him to react to her, so she could keep an eye on him, and she didn't like the idea of spying. Besides she was to get to know him, not just watch him from a distance.

"Oh come on Ruffie!"

"Ruffie?"

She smirked at the Vice President. A playful smirk, it was his language, that body language of raising the corner of ones lips. She had learnt it from him. Not that she couldn't smirk before, it was just the fact that his was far more eloquent then anyone else's. And now she was turning it on that very person.

"Yea Ruffie! How about this?" She had to think quickly, she couldn't use anything against him. And she certainly couldn't yell out that she knows that he's plotting to have his father killed, or at least it was a speculation. So she had to think of something she could do for him. "You show me around and I'll clean your bathroom?"

"I have a maid that does that."

"Oh? Well maybe I could…. Oh I know! I could feed Dark Nation for you?"

"Why of all people do you want me to show you around? You could get any guard or perhaps-"

"But… I don't want just any guard. I thought that just maybe you would…." Time to whip out the sad look. It always worked on her father, so why not on the infamous cold hearted Rufus ShinRa? "Sorry if I've been such a bother. But your really the only person I know so I…."

Rufus rolled his eyes. He wasn't falling for it, but now he was getting annoyed. "Fine I'll show you around. I don't really have anything to do anyways." Netzachs eyes widened and she looked up at the Vice President. "Really?" Her smile was genuine. The smirk was gone. And she was happy she won him over.

"Yea… let's just head back to my office first so I can get rid of this." He held up his papers and briefcase. "Ok!" she agreed happily. "Where is your office anyways?"

"The 70th floor. Next to my old mans"

"Cool!"

"Let's just go, shall we?"

She hadn't a clue as to where she really was. She had studied a map of the ShinRa building before, as per requested from the library which John had raided to find her the map. Hence why she knew the location of the meeting room and whatnot. But she had never actually seen them all before, so it was pretty new to her.

A short elevator ride and they had arrived at their destination. Netzach followed Rufus into his office after passing the secretary, actually the same one from last night. She wondered for a moment how the woman could work with having little to no sleep.

The woman waved to her and Netzach waved back. "What's her name?" Rufus looked back at her. "What?"

"The secretary. What's her name?"

"Janice."

Rufus turned a corner and slipped a card out of his pocket and swiped it though the keypad before entering a code. He beeped once and unlocked the door. He stepped in first. Netzach followed. It was dark in the room. The blind where heavy and pulled down so no light actually shun through.

"Why is it so dark in here?"

"So Dark Nation can sleep, he was sick last night. So he didn't get much rest."

"Why didn't you just leave him at home then?"

"He doesn't like to be left with those maids, they always stuff him outside for hours on end. I don't trust them. So I bring him along with me mostly everywhere I go."

"Makes a good guard panther!"

"When he's well, yes."

Netzach nodded towards Rufus. He turned around and put his briefcase on the desk, opened it and placed some files in so they were ready to go when he would leave for home that evening.

"So about that tour?"

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More to come! Later!

-Fangy


	13. Some fresh air?

Hey it's chapter 14! Thanks for all the reviews! Hope you like this one!

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It had been two months since her tour with Vice President Rufus ShinRa. And so far she had been successfully accomplishing her mission. She had become closer to him, although there was still a lot of trust to be earned between the two of them. Yet she had found no concerning information on the CEOs speculation. He seemed clean, well as clean as Rufus had kept himself. She concluded that if he ever did anything wrong he was quick to hide any evidence and was very good and doing so. To the point where there was nothing to be found. Netzach suspected that if needed he even got the Turks to take up certain jobs, but she never had any evidence. Plus the Turks took an oath to the ShinRa family; whatever happened on those nights would stay between those involved. And not a word of it was ever mentioned again.

So really in the end she had nothing to report. Although she did tell the President that she suspected. At times he would seem isolated. Not even looking at her he would shoo her away. Really what did he expect? That Rufus would open up to her and tell her that he was trying to have his father assassinated? She doubted it.

The young girl did a familiar action and sighed heavily. "Tired are we young lady? I think the President should stop having you chase after his measly son. You belong here in the labs."

Netzach was sitting on a metal table in Hojos main lab. He wanted to a full exam on her today. Which meant today was a day for agony. Many experiments and tests she had endured today and many a times her screams could have been heard all over the 68th floor. He sliced her open in a few areas for his first test of the day, and just let her heal, timing it seeing how long it would take for the wounds to fully disappear. He was absolutely fascinated by the whole ordeal. Netzach wasn't immortal but by his and even her standards she wasn't normal, obviously. It took her awhile for her wounds to close. So she nearly just bled to death lying there on that metal table, with him leaning over her, blocking out that light with his silhouette. She couldn't move. And she honestly thought she was going to die. But apparently from what the madman has said, the chemicals in her body won't let her bleed to death. It would work against time to heal her and get her ready for another round of fighting if it had to. Another test he put her throw was a range of needles. Some she felt ill of the very second they were injected to her blood stream. Others were just too horrible to mention. She just wanted to lock them away, and forget about them.

"I rather be following Rufus."

The scientist was writing furiously on his clipboard. Odd notes and other mathematics she couldn't understand. Well it was Hojos writing; his notes could hardly be understood by any other creature that drew breath other then himself.

"If I had it my way-"

"Well you don't ha-"

SLAP! She felt his hand suddenly whip across her face, before she could even react. "Don't you ever talk back to me young lady!"

Again another sigh came from the girls' lips. Oh how she wished she was stronger. In fact she had actually become more serious about her training with Garrius because one day she swore she would get out of this hell, even if she had to beat the crap out of everyone to gain her freedom, and at times she thought she would even kill for it, especially Hojo. Oh he deserved a slow and painful death. It was thoughts like that however that scared her. She didn't want to give in, to have to kill again. The very mention of the word wracked her brain.

"Sorry."

The scientist just eyed her wearingly. Netzach just wanted out of the room, out of that awful lab and away from him. "It seems we've had our fun for today, your free to go. Same time tomorrow my dear. Hehehehe."

The girl walked out of the lab, narrowed a corner and then ran. She felt so violated, even now. That feeling would never go away. She thought that maybe she would just become used to it. It was true she had become accustomed to it, but that guilty feeling. It was always there. Today was just pushing it. She was breaking down, she wanted to make it to her room before she started to cry.

Crying? It struck her. She hadn't cried in a long time. Why should she start now? What good would it do her? She slowed down, almost to a halt. She was far enough away from the mad scientists labs now. She could at least now act as if nothing happened. Or perhaps she was just another employee on the floor, not a "specimen." God she hated that word.

Her head was low, she didn't know where she was going. The girl just wandered, not really caring. That is until she bumped into something. "Sorry" was her almost silent apology to whoever she abruptly bumped into. She walked away. Turned right and proceeded down the hallway until she found her room. Netzach opened the door and her eyes almost widened when she found him sitting on her bed. He looked his usual cocky self. But she was angry. All she wanted was some time to herself, something she barely ever got and there he was! Interrupting her room with his presence.

"What are you doing here?"

"………………"

"Oh great your giving me the silent treatment!"

"My my aren't we lively today?"

"More like frustrated!"

"Frustration is lively."

Why on earth did he always have a smart quirky retort to every god damn thing she ever said? Even when he looked like he was feeling down.

"What do you want Rufus?"

"What ever happened to Ruffie?"

"You only get that when I'm not angry at you."

"Ah! So I suppose your angry at me?"

Netzach narrowed her eyes and stood with her arms on her hips for a moment and just glared at the Vice President. She stopped after a moment when she realized it wasn't having any effect on him. Like it ever did? And then began to walk towards the closet. She grabbed a uniform and some fresh towels.

"What? No… just at things in general."

"Good to hear. What are you doing?"

"I'm going to take a shower, Garrius will be-"

"Your not going to training today."

"What? But-"

Rufus got up from the bed and walked over to her. He was a bit taller then she was and he leaned down a bit to look her eye to eye. Netzachs' eyes widened. "What the hell…?" she silently thought. Her put his hand up to her chin to level his face with her own.

"You forget I own you, therefore if I insist that you do not to your training today then you won't. Understood?"

"But?"

"Not buts"

He let her go. And Netzach really didn't know what to think of what had just happened. Did he just threaten her? Did he know what she was asked to do? It wasn't her fault. Really! She was asked, no ordered to do what she was doing. On the other hand it seemed harmless and a very typical Rufus thing to do. He always did like to be in control of the things around him.

"How old are you Netzach?"

Odd question she thought but she answered regardless. "Twelve, but I'm going to be thirteen tomorrow. Not that it matters…."

"Wow you're a whole two years behind me kid!"

"I am NOT a kid!"

"Heh get dressed. I'll wait outside."

"Ok… But you better make sure Garrius doesn't get pissy at me for skipping out on training today or I'll-"

"Already taken care of. Please don't take long." And with that he was outside her door waiting. "Strange" she thought.

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It only took her about twenty minutes to shower and change into a fresh new pair of clothes. Soon after she opened the door to find him waiting there; just as he had promised.

"Didn't run away I see?"

"I don't "run away" Netzach."

"I wonder"

"Hrmmm?"

"Nothing, what are we doing?"

Rufus arched an eyebrow. Netzach noticed it and took action by blurting out "You're the one that insisted that I don't go to training and hang out with you all bloody day!"

"Of course. Well I have something "special" in mind."

"Oh gee am I supposed to be thrilled?"

"You'll see."

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Obviously Netzach wasn't going to turn down a break from her training sessions with the General. So she went along with it. Rufus had led her to the elevators. She pondered for a moment where exactly she was going, or rather where she was being dragged off to. Rufus was never one to give out details.

When the two exited the elevator she was on a floor that was somewhat familiar. It was just the fact that she never entered or exited through the main entrance of the ShinRa building for such a long time. She remembered a few times she would run in looking for her father. There would be Parent/teacher nights. Netzach and her mother would walk in and wait for him to arrive so they could all walk to her school together. It kind of saddened her. She knew the backdoor to the training arena fairly well now. It was her only exit to the outside world these days. So leaving through the front door. It was something else.

"We're going… out there?"

Rufus turned to look back at her. "Yes, and?"

"Why?"

"Do I really have to explain?"

Netzach automatically crossed her arms, stood in one place and tapped her foot. "What a cocky little thing." was what Rufus thought when he say this display. "Yes" was her obvious answer.

The Vice President shrugged. "I need a little feminine advice. That's all." The girl was not yet convinced since she still stood in the same pose. "You really don't have any respect for authority or any kinds of formality do you?"

"Oh I do, but why should I use it around you?"

"Because I'm your superior. That's why."

Netzach rolled her eyes. "Whatever" There was a thick silence between the two as they walked towards the entrance and out into the streets of Midgar. Well not exactly out into the streets. There was a black limo there waiting for them. They climbed in. Netzach had never been in a limo before so it was a new experience for her. She played with the TV, the radio, anything she could get her hands on. Well until Rufus had enough.

"Stop playing with everything you see!"

"But… look at this stuff! It's so cool!" She honestly felt like a kid again. It was the way a twelve year old should feel. Curious and greatly enlightened by new gadgets and whatnot. Rufus was only two years older then her and yet he acted so much older. She noticed that a few times and often wondered what exactly made him that way. She had her hunches, but as usual nothing solid.

"It's just plain old boring stuff."

"Maybe to you it's plain and boring." Netzach turned on some music. Fairly loud as well. "Cool!" She had a grin on her face, probably from ear to ear, but she didn't care. She was getting further and further away from the ShinRa building. At least for now.

'If you like the radio so much then maybe I should have one put in your quarters?" Rufus turned down the volume. It obviously wasn't his kind of music. Netzach however, stopped at his question. "Would you?"

The Vice President smirked. "It would annoy the hell out of Hojo wouldn't it?" He received a laugh from the girl opposite him. "Yes it would! …So about this feminine advice?"

"My mothers birthday, I don't know what to get her."

"Wow Rufus ShinRa has a heart?"

"When it comes to my old man I couldn't give a damn, but my mother is different. She deserves… a little more."

Netzach caught the "deserves" aspect of what he was hinting at. So perhaps her thoughts on the CEO where true. She never did get any good vibes off of him. Especially that one night at his home, and the way he looked at his wife. Nothing good would come from that glare, she knew it.

Now with this new information her view on Rufus ShinRa hadn't changed much. Everyone is human, everyone cares about something. But Rufus was still Rufus. Even though the two had become closer because of her objective. It still hadn't made them best friends or anything ridiculous like that, but she did suspect that he was opening up to her more often. Which was good for her, she was gaining his trust. Slowly but surely. It would make her job easier.

"And maybe if I feel like being nice I might buy you something. But only if your good and carry everything."

'I have to carry everything? You didn't tell me that!"

"If I told you, you would have objected. Not that-"

"YEA! I thought that was the Turks job!"

Rufus wasn't exactly taken back by her rude shouting, he was used to it by now. A few times he remembered telling her not to do that, but Netzach never listened. "Turks are protection, like Rude here." Rufus pointed behind him towards the driver's seat, and sure enough there was Rude. Netzach was a bit stunned for a moment. It was something of a tradition that wherever Rude was Reno was right behind him. Or rather vice versa. So… "Where's Reno?"

"Confidential" was the only word spoken from the Vice Presidents lips.

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Oh something BIG is gonna happen in the next few chapters! XD Until we meet again!

-Fangy


	14. A woman of leadership

Oh this chapter sets off a few things that may be more interesting in chapters to come. Anyways thanks for all the reviews, hope to see more questions and comments from you all!

Disclaimer: All characters but for Netzach and Garrius are © to Square Enix. Netzach and Garrius are © to me! HUZZAH!

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"Confidential?" she mused. "Oh I see…" Her words ended the conversation as her sight was now dedicated solely to looking out the limos window as the world past her by. Even thought she really had no idea what Reno was up to she figured it wasn't good. The Turks were an organization in ShinRa to eliminate all those that stood in the company's path. And from what she had heard throughout the building, Reno was good at his job, as much of a goofball as he was.

"Where we going?"

"I told you already."

"Not exactly, you never gave me a location."

Rufus shrugged. "We'll find something as we go along."

"So you're dragging me out so we can go shopping? Is that all?"

"I thought girls liked shopping?"

"Not this girl."

"Great" she thought, "Just wonderful. I have to spend all day here with mister money bags as he goes shopping for his mommy…. Guess he's lucky he still has one. Bastard."

"Would you rather train with Garrius?"

"No." He had a point. "But I don't want to spend all day carrying everything you hand to me. I won't be able to see anything but for the bags."

"I'm not buying that much."

Netzach sighed. She could argue with him all day and he wasn't about to loose his cool. "He doesn't even flinch, not for a second. How the hell does the President expect me to get anything out of him?"

"Something the matter?"

Netzach jerked for a moment before she recognized his voice. She had drifted off into her thoughts for a moment and nearly forgotten where she was. "Nothing" she muttered.

"You sure, it seems like something is on your mind."

"I said it was nothing ok? Why don't you mind your own business?"

"But Netzach, since I-"

"Shut up! I know what you're going to say ok?"

"You just don't like hearing it because you know it's true."

The girl shot up in her seat, she glared at him, trying not to cry. Although she was certain he could see the tears forming in her eyes. Rufus seemed to get some sort of kick out of mentally torturing her like this. And she often wondered if it was the result of his father. That perhaps the CEO did the same thing to his son, which would be the reason for him being so cold himself, and then inflicting this kind of pain on those around him. Children usually did the same thing onto others as their parents had done onto them. It seemed only natural for that to be so.

"You know you don't always have to be so blunt." Netzach didn't want to risk blowing up at him and saying something she shouldn't of. So she stayed quiet. For now anyways.

"I'm hardly ever blunt Netzach."

"Whatever."

Netzach just wanted the conversation to end. She had put up with enough of his games, and really she didn't need to deal with it right now.

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Elsewhere Reno was casually walking around in the sector 5 slums. He had just committed a crime. Murder, or rather assassination was one of Reno's best traits. The man could get away with just about anything, unless of course he stank of liquor. Which wasn't an unusual smell surrounding the red headed man. But he always became serious when a job needed to be done. Well… as serious as Reno could be.

The Turk had gutted the man, sliced open his stomach and let him literally fall to pieces and bleed to death. All it took was a few minutes, a knife and the moron to let himself open to such an attack. Reno never thought twice. The kill was easy. And when he was done, there was nothing more to do. So he left the dieing man there, alone.

The man had hid himself in an abandoned house, that had no electricity and had all it's windows shielded from any form of light with wooden boards on the outside. It was somewhat of a disturbing sight but it didn't seem to disgruntle the young man. "Time for a beer! Or at least something alcoholic." Reno left the slums, and the rickety old house behind as he began to take the road to the nearest train station. He had a particular bar float through his mind in sector six. Known as the Sixth Bith. It had a rather strange name, but it had a few good drinks.

The train ride was slow, so the Turk just sat there and thought of what he had done, not out of remorse, if anything the bastard should of died a long while ago. His latest kill was actually once a ShinRa employee, one of Hojo's to be more exact. It would seem the man had been apart of AVALANCHE the entire time. How he got into the company was beyond him. But it was clever of AVALANCHE to have a spy hidden amongst them, especially having one dealing so closely with such private and top secret things as the Jenova and SOLDIER projects. And having a "secretary" on the science floor would be able to have access to all types of files. Reno just hoped he killed the man and had retrieved all the information he had previously stolen from Hojo and hopefully some time before he had given anything to AVALANCHE. Which made him wonder how much Hojo knew? Well to be more exact, did the scientist know he had a AVALANCHE spy under him, and if he did why didn't he do anything?

The Turk shook his head however. It wasn't his place to really do a lot of thinking of his "doings" for the company. Besides, Hojo was a hard one to figure out. No sense on wasting good brain cells over the mad scientist. Although he had to admit he really wanted to look at the files he was holding. But that would be wrong. He reminded himself again it wasn't his place. So Reno just sat back and relaxed. His stop wouldn't come around for another thirty minutes. And he grumbled at that thought. He really wanted a drink.

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Netzach was getting rather irritated by now. Rufus was taking his sweet ass time about everything. The price of this, the quality of that. Did it really matter that much? Netzach was sure that if he bought her anything she would probably love it. It was from her own son after all. And from what little she saw of the Vice Presidents mother, she was a kind lady. Although she couldn't say for sure. She was only formally introduced to her once when she was much younger.

The young girl stood there impatiently. "Aren't you done yet?"

"Almost" came his only retort as his formed deepened at the sight of the things the sales associates were handing to him. The girl rolled her eyes. "Your taking forever."

"I'm picky."

"I can tell."

"Stop your whining."

"Whine."

Rufus looked back at her as he arched an eye brow. He didn't say a word however. His gaze only turned back to the next item that was presented to him.

"If I can't actually make an actual whine then I shall verbally use it, as in saying it."

The Vice President almost immediately became entangled in his shopping once more and completely ignored her. Again her thoughts went to, "Why am I here?" "Hate to say it but I want to go back to the building" "When will this end?"

Rude stood off to the side. Her never said a word, he just followed them around like any good body guard. She often wondered how he could do it. Not only did she want an explanation as to how he kept his temper in check, never mind the fact that he to must be utterly bored. And yet he continues to follow the ShinRa kid around without question. But also… how did he ever keep himself so quiet all the time? "Must be hard to be a bodyguard" she silently whispered to herself.

Netzach continued to watch Rufus shop. Apparently his mother's birthday was coming up. Hers was actually only two days away. January 12th. She knew it wasn't going to be a good one. Her first teenage birthday and already it was smelling like a rotting fish. Or something equally disturbing. Probably like the labs she figured, since that would be where she would spend it. She suddenly felt very sad. Netzach would have no one to spend her day of her birth with. No one that would ever care that she actually came into existence. She felt tears trying to force their ways out, but it seemed her will was stronger. And she pushed them back, doing so her eyes ached and she was given a small but painful headache in the back of her head.

She brushed the tears away hoping no one would see and walked over to the shop window to look outside. It was evening, and as people were retuning to their homes they turned on the heaters, the televisions and everything else that would be required to have a comfortable home and the Mako from the reactors glowed just a tad bit brighter giving telephone polls a eerily look.

"Aha!"

Netzach turned to look at the Vice President. "At least he finally found something" she muttered. Her tears had dried up, well at least for her liking for the time being. He eyes still glistened but she could just say it was the Mako acting up and no one would think the wiser.

Rufus held up a diamond necklace. "Perfect isn't it?"

Netzach looked at the adornment he was holding. "It sure is." Only she covered her sadness with a fake smile, which he seemingly mistook for a real one. "When you going to give it to her?"

"Sometime…." Rufus' voice faded into the background as Netzach saw a reflection on the glass wall behind the Vice President. The entire glass almost seemed to be made of it, glass that is, so reflections where everywhere.

"What the…?"

Netzach looked up from the reflection to look up at Rufus only to see him with a smirk plastered all over his face. She turned to face the real figure coming towards them. It wasn't running. That would cause too much attention to itself. It wasn't until it came a bit closer that Netzach realized it was a woman. She was a tomboy however, and had shaggy short brown hair. She wore green and her face was quenched in sadness. There was something about her. Something that struck her to be some sort of threat, even though she looked so depressed. The mysterious women disheartened her for a moment. Netzach really didn't know what to make of her. But whatever she was or what she stood for she was obviously coming to see Rufus.

Rufus knew her, or at least knew of her, since had that silly but threatening smile on his face. The women walked in and the sales associates were seemingly about to make a fuss until the Vice President simple told them to stay put with but a signal of his hand. They did as they were told.

"My my, if it isn't dear old Elfe."

Elfe? She had heard of that name before. But from where?

"What brings someone like you here?"

Rufus went into his 'nothing but business' personality. He held his head high as if to say anyone standing in front of him was beneath his status, which in a scary fact was true. (Well except for his old man) Even though the Vice President didn't hold much power in the company, Rufus ShinRa would still have you on yours knees if he ever saw fit. "Something the matter?" His tone was casual, but it still had a hint of unkindness in it. Whoever this woman was, it was obvious Rufus didn't like her much, and that he might be just putting up with her to use her in some sort of confidential scheme of his. In Netzachs' mind Rufus was a nice guy, when he wasn't using people's lives in some sort of grand theatre play of his own making. When he was doing that he was a royal bastard. No wonder why people would fear the guy. It isn't nice having your life manipulated; she had learnt that from experience and is unfortunately, still learning it.

The woman said nothing. Rufus shook his head. "I am very busy here. Perhaps we can talk later…" his eyes darted towards Netzach and back at Elfe. "Privately?"

The woman shook her head. Obviously she wanted to talk now and it wasn't to Rufus' liking at all. "The last we-"

"Rufus ShinRa, the deals off."

"What?"

Netzach repeated Rufus' question. "What?"

"You had one of our men killed, not but only a short while ago."

Rufus shrugged. "Business is business. Nothing personal"

The woman shook her head. "You dare…."

"You know I'm amazed you're here yourself. You look weak Elfe. Perhaps you should go home and get some rest? Wouldn't want to causing any trouble now would we? We all know how unstable you can become and when that-"

'ENOUGH! …. Ugh…." Elfe was trembling, it looks as if she was about to fall to her knees but out of sheet will power she still remained standing. Her hand was clutching her chest where her heart lay underneath her skin, and she looked even more tired then she did moments ago. However she regained her strength in moments, which amazed Netzach. How on earth could she do that?

"I'm not here alone" the woman said matter-a-factly. Her eyes darting over to Rudes location. Netzach turned to see a young man with a cameoish bandana on his head, behind Rude, with a knife to his throat.

Rufus' gaze never left the women in front of him. "Well it seems you have me in a tight spot, you have my Turk all tied up so to speak. So what exactly is that you want Elfe?"

That name again, she knew she heard it before, but still couldn't figure out from where. She wanted to know the answer to that question now, there and then. But it wouldn't be a wise move to simply ask, that could damage the security that they had for the moment. It was a time to answer question, not ask, and Rufus was in the spotlight.

"You betrayed us."

"I never swore to you any kind of loyalty"

"When making an agreement for an equal benefit you would think ones loyalties would be on the same ground as yourself."

"Strange I never claimed to be on the same ground as yourself."

"Don't argue with me ShinRa!"

Rufus' smirk only seemed to get wider. "I'm not arguing, you're the one getting flustered Elfe. It would be wise of you to remember who you are dealing with."

The woman sighed, obviously disgruntled. Netzach looked at her curiously. "So you have the child with you." It wasn't a question, more of a statement. "His daughter, the one that killed Keela."

"Remarkable isn't she?"

"Another death you are being held responsible for ShinRa!" Something wasn't right here. Keela? The woman from the night at the mansion, her first… kill.

"Why? That woman attacked my father's house and my family, something obviously had to be done." Rufus smirked again, his eyes piercing into hers and you could tell she was beginning to feel that crude icy stare of his. "We will put an end to you ShinRa!" And that was when she remembered the name Elfe. It was mentioned on that night of the hostage take over made by AVALANCHE in the Presidents home. Elfe and Shears were a couple of names she caught drift of. "Crap…. Rufus obviously has dealt with this woman before. Meaning he did have ties with AVALANCHE, meaning if he were to fund them a whole lot of gil they could pull off some spiffy operations. But he's playing dumb, in a smart way. This Elfe is in an open area, in a high class area of Midgar. He could expose her at any time to be an AVALANCHE terrorist. Even with Rude having a knife to his neck, it wouldn't matter. Turks are indispensable. They all know it when they sign that dotted line. But all he had to do was give the word. Say something out loud, and the people would believe him. And I'm quite sure he has his shotgun with him, he doesn't leave home without it."

Rufus almost snorted at her comment about the "end of ShinRa." And it almost seemed he rolled his eyes, almost. "Really now?" was his simple statement as he arched a eye brow.

"You will pay for what happened to John, here and now, with your life ShinRa!" Netzachs eyes perked up. "Wait! John?" she thought.

"You say we had an agreement, but you're the one that disowned that when you sent in your little spy."

"How could I know to trust you?"

"There is no need for trust, just rules and a good head on your shoulder to follow those rules when I give them to you. Do you know how many "spies" we've had to get rid of? Not just John, probably many more then you know of. You see Elfe, I know John was a good friend of yours. That's why I made it all the more noticeable."

"No."

"Hrmph. Yes actually."

"You bastard. I'll kill you!"

"Nothing new to that threat."

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Oh perhaps a good brawl or something will be coming up…. Yay! Until next time!

-Fangy


	15. AUTHORS NOTE

Just a note from me to you. I love this story… really! But I hated chapter one. I mean sure I needed a way to start everything off and I also needed a way to make sure you had some sort of information as to how close Sephiroth and Netzach were. Hence the first chapter, since it's the only chapter he is in, in her youth.

But I got to reading this fic again, just so I could get a much better grasp of where everything is going, and I realized as to how much I truly hated the first chapter. So I did something rather dorky. I revamped it. In other words I totally redid it. To me at least the first chapter is to how it SHOULD have been. Plus Sephiroth is a bit more in character. Yes he does kiss Malliah in this revamped version, I had to at least show that he did love someone in his life. But he does it behind closed doors. As you may find that he keeps most of his family life that way. He does have a reputation to up hold you know.

So please don't bark at me for that. It is called a fan fiction for a reason. But yea… please by all means go check it out. I'm much more proud of that chapter then the previous chapter one.


	16. Answers

Well I'm sorry for being away for so long, just had a lot of stuff to do! Work is big and nasty and very scary! So anyways I finally bring to you Chapter 16! Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: FF7 characters are all © to Square Enix.

Netzach however is mine!

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John, her John? The John from the labs? Hojos secretary? The one person that had been so kind to her all this time? Hojo had said he fired him. But… it didn't make any sense to her. Maybe he wanted to be fired so he could report back to AVALANCHE? Or maybe he has just become to much of a nuisance and Hojo wanted him out not even knowing he was a spy. Or maybe John was alright it was pure coincidence. But even still Netzach already knew exactly they all were talking about the same man.

"So you found him? Lying dead? You know I asked one of my Turks to do him in that way. All of him, just wasting away…."

"SHUT UP!"

Before she could even gather herself Netzach was pushed to the side by the Vice President. Her back slammed into the glass wall behind her and she saw Rufus dodge some bullets as Elfe unleashed a rain storm of bullets in his direction. The sales associates ran for the back door, and Rude, after patiently standing still, had finally made a move on his captor. It happened so fast but from what Netzach saw he took a knife out of sleeve and stabbed the other mans thigh. Once he was let go the Turk promptly kicked the man in the head with his leg, sending him to the far wall. Rude then joined his employer and began shooting at the women.

Elfe hid behind a solid wall. She was obviously out of bullets and she wasn't a very good shot to begin with since she only scrapped Rufus up a bit. He was more injured by the tiny shards of glass he fell on. And that was nothing serious.

"You ok sir?"

"Dandy… Where's Netzach?"

"Ummm…?"

They both looked to their right where Rufus had pushed her out of the way from the bullets. She wasn't there anymore.

"Where?"

"Shit! Hojo will ring my neck for this. Nevermind father dearest."

"Shears!" The woman interrupted the quiet conversation between the two. "My sword…." A coughing spaszim occurred afterwards. She really wasn't all that well. It was quite a feat that she could actually fight. "Shears?"

Rude almost chuckled. Rufus simply smirked. "So Shears is his name? Sorry to say but your friend is out cold." Rude walked out first, his gun aimed at the woman's location although he could exactly see her yet. The wall was doing a good job at hiding her. Elfe let out a growl. Now she was out numbered and without her weapon of choice. Her companion had brought the sword with him, she knew it. At times she was to weak to carry it, so he would sheath it and carried it on his back for her and presented it to her during battle.

But if he couldn't give it to her… then she would have to make her way to him herself and fight them alone. Plus there was no way she was leaving Shears behind so the ShinRa could take him in to do god knows what to him.

"Dammit." Elfe eyed Shears on the opposite end. She was growing weaker by the minute and couldn't see straight, but she knew if she got to her sword she could see clearly. It had some rare materia equipped to it that made her focus.

"Just give it up Elfe." The voice belonged to the Vice President. "The games over. And I refuse to play anymore."

The rebel could hear sirens off in the distant. Obviously all the ruckus had stirred up a lot of attention. Employees at other shops would of heard all the commotion and the sales associates at this store had to of told others by now. She decided it was time to move. She leaped out towards the next solid wall. Rude automatically began to shoot at her. He got her right leg and she rolled when she landed on the floor. Although she was in agony she managed to stand. She moved as fast as she could to Shears.

"My sword."

She went to reach out to it, but realized it wasn't there; Shears didn't have it on him. "What? NO!" The woman was growing weaker. She pounded her fist on the floor. The ShinRa bastards were closing in. The Vice President wouldn't fund her anymore. Whatever it was that he wanted from her, she figured he didn't want it, at least not after all this mess.

"Shears… why didn't you bring it?"

"You mean this?"

A voice came off from the side. It was rather perplexing to the young woman. Even the two men stopped in their tracks. Although Elfe didn't like the look on Rufus' face. Smirking as always, it wasn't a good sign. It usually meant he knew something you didn't.

"It's a very nice sword. Light, easy to move. Although when I first looked at it I wondered how someone as weak as you could wield such a thing. Then I saw the materia equipped to it."

Netzachs' eyes seemed to glow in the dark. It frightened Elfe. She had seen those eyes once before. When she had met the legendary Sephiroth. She had asked him after their battle was done with if he had ever fought for anything. He scoffed at her and repeated her question. There was a silence before he answered. "When is there something to fight for?" It was an unusual answer. She knew he had a family, never married, but he had something close to the idea. Most men would of stated that all they ever wished to die for was for their family and for ShinRa. But not Sephiroth. He was warrior designed to fight. Designed to wage war. But she wondered after he said that to her, did he ever truly believe what he eventually died for?

"You father…. You look like him."

The statement caught her off guard. But she kept her cool composure. "It will be a shame when you die like him. Another ShinRa dog!"

"You NEVER call my father-"

Elfe grabbed some of Shears daggers from his belt and then lunged herself at the young girl. Netzach parried all of her attacks. Her movements were far to easy to figure out. She was sly, but at this moment, incredibly weak.

Rude looked onward to the attack and pointed his gun at the terrorist. Rufus just stood off to the side, not minding the fact that an older woman was attacking Netzach. "She can take care of herself" was all he said. Rude wasn't convinced, although he didn't leave the Vice Presidents side. Rufus came first; it was the main priority of his job.

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Netzach didn't want to kill the woman, but she was attacking her. All she could do was block, and strike out and try to make her even more fragile then she already was.

"Give me back my sword!"

"No. You'll kill me if I do."

"Give it to me!" The woman yelped in pain of her own actions. This whole situation wasn't doing her or Netzach any good.

But while the two females were duking it out and kept the ShinRa entertained, Shears was waking up unbeknownst to those around him. He groaned silently and reached for the back of his head with his right hand while his left supported him. "What the hell?" His sight was coming back when he realized what had happened. His automatic thought was related to Elfe. His eyes darted all over the room, but her grunts of pain swiftly directing him towards her.

"Elfe!"

"Sh..ears…"

Netzach looked at the woman before her. She was out of breath. And she almost looked as if she was dieing. The girl looked curiously at her.

"I think he will get you out of here if you leave now." The terrorist ignore the child and leaned her body against a pillar. Her daggers still in position to defend herself. Rufus looked at her with wild amusement on his face. "Out of breath are we Elfe?"

"Elfe!"

Rufus arched an eyebrow. "You?"

"Let her go!"

'I think not."

"Shears get out of here."

'No way Elfe, we're in this together!"

"GET OUT! NOW!"

"NO!"

"How touching. But it doesn't matter I have no use for you and your little girlfriend anymore."

Rufus casually pulled out his shotgun from his hidden pocket in his long white coat. The entire time rude has his gun point at Shears. Rufus just planted another smirk on his face as he rested his weapon on his shoulder.

"If I were you…"

The Vice Presidents feet slowly made his body move to face AVALANCHES leader. The woman had no emotion on her face, just the usual weak and tired eyes that bore into his.

"I would do as she said"

Rufus' gun was quickly put into position to shoot her directly in between the eyes. Sure death. The younger man began to breath heavier. He was panicking Netzach noticed, although he had to much pride to let Rufus know that. He was about to pull the trigger when he quickly moved his aim from her forehead to her shoulder. Within moments a loud "BANG" was made and the woman was clutching her shoulder in pain. And within a few seconds Rudes attention was taken away and the enemy made it's move.

"ELFE! YOU BASTARD!"

Shears pointed his gun at the Vice President, he fired off a few bullets, all of which Rufus escaped thanks to Rude taking a few for him while he pushed the young man to the floor and shielded his body with his own.

Netzach screamed. Shears was moving towards them, gun in hand and his aim simple. "After all this time you finally die at my hands." He was muttering a few things as he moved in towards the two figures laying on the floor. Both were well aware of the predicament they had landed themselves in. Rufus had sworn under his breath as did Rude. Although a Turk is never without a trick or two of their sleeve. Rude was waiting for some sort of right timing, but it wasn't good enough for Netzach.

"Don't you touch them!"

Seeing that Netzach was about to go ape with a sword Rude decided it wasn't a place for Rufus to be caught in. He forced the young Vice President into a corner, behind a solid wall while he watched from around the corner.

"This isn't all that necessary."

"Just taking precautions sir." The Turk shrugged and Rufus only rolled his eyes. How in the blue blazes did this go from being his battle to having Netzach in the spotlight? It didn't seem to matter the sirens that they all had heard off in the distance not so long ago were now a few seconds away

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When entering the battle Netzach had swung the blade so precisely she had lopped off the end of the mans gun. Shears went in to punch her, but she dodged. He used the gun against her to somehow hit her with it on the head to knock her out, but that didn't seem to work for him. She was to fast, one moment she was to his left the other she was to his right. They carried on that way for a good minute or so until Shears finally had enough. He began to cast Fire 3 on the girl. But that didn't seem all to effective either.

Netzach flipped over him and taking note that his bangle with the fire materia in it was on his right arm. She gripped the blade in her hand and charged at him. He casted fire on her once again but she did enough flips and dodges to not get injured by his attacks. She attacked him a few times giving him a few scrapes and cuts only to receive such retorts like "Is that all you got?" "Damn kid!" "Once a ShinRa always a ShinRa, so it's time to die!" When she had finally had enough and when he finally let himself open to an attack she went in for his arm with the bracer. She ran towards him, her adrenaline running at full speed, she swung her blade up towards his arm. A scream was heard after that. She landed not to far from him. The mans former arm however landed beside him while he fell to his knees.

Blood was all over the floor. Rufus had come out of his forced hiding spot with a cold look on his face. Elfe was gone, she must of flown the cope awhile ago. But at least Netzach had gotten him some sort of reward for todays troubles. He looked at the young girl. Her eyes seemed emotionless as she stared at the arm she had dismembered from the mans body. She only whispered a single word before she turned her back to Rufus and ran out the back door.

"Netzach!"

Rufus yelled out to her but she didn't hear him, that or didn't want to hear him. He was about to run after her when Rude stopped him. It was that moment the police arrived.

"We heard something about a shooting?"

"It's about time you got here!" Rufus wasn't all to pleased. He have them all the harsh cold icy stare and "lectures" to boot. It was only after his ranting that Rufus ordered Rude to go find Netzach as soon as possible, it couldn't very well go back to the ShinRa building without Hojos favourite specimen. Now could he?

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Well hopefully I'll get the next chapter soon! Make sure to comment and review! Later!

-Fangy


	17. Traitor amongst us

Been awhile eh? Do enjoy.

Disclaimer: Everything FF7 is owned by Squenix, except Netzach, she's mine!

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Eyes a glow, white hair flowing behind her, the child turned every nook and cranny the rebel terrorist had taken. Every little trick she had done to take Netzach off her trail had failed her. The child kept hot on her heels. Elfe cringed; the girl looked just as demonic as her father. Not that she was running at a good speed, she did make it rather easy for the girl to follow, with her open wounds to create a trail of blood for the ShinRa dog to follow.

Elfe cursed herself. It was the only thing she could do however. And honestly after seeing what that child did to Shears, she was afraid. Without any regret in her eyes that girl just took off his arm. And what disturbed her more was the fact that she was slightly impressed. An AVALANCHE member, especially its leader, is never to think of such things. If was a "ShinRa way of thinking" to do business like that. To kill and ask questions later. It was just how they worked, and she was here to stop that kind of thinking. To stop the killing. To fight, yes. Injure if you must, but do not kill. To try and save the planet from the ShinRa. If it wasn't for them the planet wouldn't be dieing and she couldn't be here running from a child.

"How pathetic" she thought. But she didn't want to die, and Shears wasn't dead… yet. Although she didn't know what was worse. Being in the hands of the ShinRa, or death itself. But if she lived she and the others could possibly save him. It was another reason why she ran. She heard the sirens. They were just steps away. So she took off. Cursing herself again for letting the girl take away her favourite sword, and hoping that she wouldn't die by it that night. Since she was now unarmed.

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Netzach carried the woman's sword in her hands. All she wanted was some answers, and when she got them she would gladly give the blade back to its owner. But she had a feeling the woman would not give them so easily.

The girl stopped for a second. The chase had apparently lead them to a back ally. The dampness swarm around the area with its icy daggers, swiftly sending chills of her arms and spine. The blood trail had stopped in front of a few large wet boxes, a few of them pilling on top of one another. The rebel was here. Hiding out. Was she so afraid of her?

Netzach looked down to the ground and watched in amazement for a brief second as the blood and muddy puddles had merged, making the water take on a strange color which reminded her more of a burgundy then a actual red. It seemed longer, but within a few seconds her moment was ruined when something had shuffled within the boxes.

"I will give you back your sword…. If you promise not to kill me with it."

"To kill her?" Elfe thought for a moment. The rebel leader was growing weaker by the minute. Without the material that was equipped in her sword she couldn't fight. Even though she put up a good defence just moments ago in the shop. Even still… she had to stand up against this child, this new age of SOLDIER, or so it seemed.

"Please, I just want some answers."

'Why not ask your Vice President." Elfe wasn't in good shape at all, but her voice, no matter how soft or fragile it may have been, took on a strict and commanding tone. Seconds later she made herself visible to the girl. Removing herself from her refuge.

"I… I want to know what happened to John."

The terrorist had finished pushing the boxes aside and took on a very weak stance in front of the child. "Why would you care? You work for the bastards that did him in!"

"I…. I know that what ShinRa does is not all right. I'm a good example of that. I did not choose to be here. But I am… a..and John was one of the only people that actually talked to me."

"So the rumours are true, Hojo has done his work on you."

Netzach only looked to the ground, and Elfe took that as a yes. "My sword." The girl's eyes looked up at the woman. "No." The AVALANCHE member curled her fists in anger as the other balanced herself. "I will not kill-"

"How do I know that for sure?"

"I give you my-"

"Your word isn't good enough." Elfes fists tightened but that only seemed to cause her more pain as the other hand reached for her forehead. She groaned with pain. Her fist shaking, and when her headache was over she peered at the girl through her strands of hair that had fallen into her face. She had had enough. Her feet carried to the girl and her hand whipped out in anger and slapped the girl. "How you must like being their lapdog child." Netzachs hand went to her cheek as her eyes angrily darted towards Elfe. "I think that would be you Elfe." The rebels hand went out for another slap. Netzach noticed this and raise the sword to protect herself. Elfe's hand latched onto the sword, it's sharp edge cutting into the palm of her hand. The blood began to run down the blade, and then dripping onto the ground.

"This is why."

Elfe took out one of the daggers she had taken from Shears. Her hand was shaking. Her knees were about to give in when there was a huge explosion only a block or two away. The two covered their eyes as they looked towards the disturbance. Elfe covered her ears as if the noise pained her. But her hand was still clinging into her sword.

"You want to stop ShinRa, so you demonstrate your rebellion by blowing stuff up?"

"Wasn't us."

"BULL! You put John in danger when you put him in the damn building working as Hojos secretary! You knew something would happen if he was found out! You're just as responsible for his death as anyone else in ShinRa! You re reckless! You didn't care! You didn't care about him or anyone that may have known him! All you wanted was information and would sacrifice anything or anyone to get it! And you think you're any better then ShinRa? You'd even kill more people to add to the list that ShinRa has already done, just so you can play out your rebellion. So don't tell me you didn't do it! I hate you people! So much!"

The rebel had a hint of a flame in her eyes as this child lectured her, and the flame grew into a bonfire when she had finished. "Look around kid. ShinRa is killing the planet! We have to do something!"

"So you did do it, just now, what did you do. Calculate this all out!"

"Every minute"

"You wanted the ShinRa to look away for a moment, just so you can blow up some building, so you distracted them."

"Not just any building. A ShinRa building. One of their main offices of their "police force" that keep everyone in line. Keep people from being free of ShinRa influences. Rufus was in the way, I still need him alive. So I had to keep his eyes away from our mission."

"Idiot, you want to use Rufus to your advantage but he's been using you. Besides what makes you think I won't tell him that when I go back."

"You're not going back. I may not be able to kill you. But he will."

"He?" The panic seemed to rise in Netzachs heart, her heart pounded a little bit faster, and her eyes grew wide when the terrorist spoke of killing her off.

"Yes…. Him."

Netzach walked back and stumbled into a plank of wood, she tipped over it and landed on her butt in a muddy puddle.

"Hello Netzach"

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Rude was running down all possible routes the girl could have taken, all of them leading him to a dead end.

"Where the hell did she go?" he thought to himself. The Turk cursed the girl. Why did she have to run off like that? Taking down terrorist was SOLDIER or the Turks job. Although he did have to admit she handled herself pretty well with that Elfe character back in the shop, and she also did a nasty job of cutting up the guys arm. He knew the girl would go far in ShinRa when she got older. Maybe even one day take over her old mans job.

He stopped for a moment to recollect his thoughts. There was no way in hell he could go back to Rufus empty handed. So really the only option he had was finding the girl. The Turk fixed his tie before carrying on his search.

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"Who?"

"Don't remember me Netzach Crescent?"

A man stepped out from the shadows and moved ahead of Elfe. He smiled down at her. "It's been awhile. By the way, I haven't heard of anything on a SOLDIER member by the name of Zackary Knightblade. In fact I never met him."

"Derek… Aimsworth…?"

"Nice name isn't it?"

"Raege, I'm going to help the others. They should have the Vice President by now."

"Rufus?" Netzach asked in curious, but scared eyes.

"Sure thing Elfe. I'll deal with the little one here."

The rebel leader nodded and she was about to limp away when Raege stopped her and handed her a piece of materia. "Take this, it will help." The woman nodded, and cast the spell on herself. It seemed to be a mastered cure materia, since she wasn't hobbling as she left. It was then the mans attention turned to the girl. "Now to take care of you."

"You people are just mucked up."

"How so Netzach?"

"You go from saving the world and not wanting to kill to being total idiots to wanting to kill someone. Is that how you justify everything, seems pretty mucked up to me."

"You know there is always one thing I admired about you Netzach. You have a IQ that could rival any child your age. You speak like an adult. You know of knowledge that many could never obtain, even in old age. I guess you owe it all to that mako that runs in your veins, so in a way you not only owe that to your father but to the wonderful Professor Hojo as well."

"Shut up!"

"Although at times you can be a little dumb. Think about it. No Turk to protect the heir of ShinRa, no little SOLDIER either."

"Rufus is not as stupid as you think, nor is he as weak. You want to kill him you'll have to actually beat him down first."

"Seems easy enough."

"Elfe wants him alive!"

"Screw what that bitch wants!"

"You would disobey your leader's orders?"

"She's hardly my leader Netzach, she's too weak to be in that position anyways…. Do tell do you know what she is?"

"No, do tell."

"Well for one thing she's Velds daughter."

Veld, the silent leader of the Turks. A man she never met before, but only heard of. It was said that he usually sent Tseng in for meetings and whatnot and had him report back. In fact she actually thought Tseng was the Turk leader, but she was corrected by Hojo one day when that conversation changed from rotting flesh to the order of the Turks.

"And she is the hostage of a summon, a great beast that could destroy the world. It drains her of her strength, slowly trying to break free from its prison made of flesh and bone."

Netzach was a bit amazed, Elfe was the leader of AVALANCE. A anti-ShinRa group and her father was the leader of one of the most notorious groups in the entire company.

"However I don't have time to go in depth. So, shall we?"

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BIG ASS FIGHT SCENE UP NEXT! XD

I think at the end of each chapter I do I'm going to write a lil' something about what I personally think about it, so here it goes.

I wanted to portray Netzach as an intelligent individual in this chapter and to show you that she does know of how the people around her act and that she understands a bit of strategy. But she is young. She's just a child. So she reacts on her emotions more so then logical thought. Netzach is pretty damn smart for her age, but then again she has a lot of mako running through her veins. Mako contains the knowledge if the ancients, anyone who has ever played the game will know what I mean. But she was always a smart kid, she's just been through some real terrible stuff recently and killing and all that makes you realize a few things about life. I think what I really wanted to say is that Netzach is brave for her age, but she's also terrified but wants to stand up to her fears. She feels she has no choice in the matter like everything else in her life.

But yea…. I hope you enjoyed, the next chapter will be better. Promise!


	18. The plot thickens

My, it's been a long while since I last updated? Well here is the next chapter for you. Enjoy!

FF7 world and its characters are copyrighted to Square Enix

Netzach is copyrighted to me!

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This man wanted to fight her. No, he wanted to kill her. A girl perhaps not so innocent, but not by her own hands, standing there alone. Facing off with a threat that would surely destroy her. Strategy rushed through her mind. Anything and everything Garrius may have taught her came back to her. But all the while… Netzach simply just wanted to run away. To die here was too harsh a punishment for someone so young. If she could she wouldn't allow it, but in the end, it wasn't entirely up to her.

If she did run, Aimsworth would follow her, chase her down and perhaps move her into some dark alley and corner her, and then be done with her. Netzach wanted to continue living her life. No matter how cruel it was, at least it was something. And then there was always the hope of when she got older and stronger, she cold get away from there entirely. And put ShinRa out of her life, along with the dear Professor.

"You could join us however."

The girls headed cocked to the side. "What do you mean join you?" Narrowing her eyes at the thought of joining them she mentally repeated to herself it was out of the question. They thought themselves better then the ShinRa. But in fact, they were perhaps just as bad. They killed to gain power in the name of the planet. The power to protect it. But by "protecting" the planet they injured it even more.

"Get away from ShinRa! Netzach now is the perfect time. You sneak away with us. They would think you dead and you get to live your life. Grow up. Not having any kind of scars left on you from that fucking company."

"Am I to think that you wouldn't use me as they do?"

The man chuckled, his was dark and deep, almost thick with a haunting tinge. "No matter where you go in life Netzach, there will always be someone stronger then you are, and that one person will use whatever resources they can get their hands on."

"You don't want to really help AVALANCHE do you? You just want some sort of Dominate position." After the words had past she watched him intently. Derek reached behind him to unsheathe his buster sword. He lifted it over his head and placed it in front of him with both of his hands resting on the hilt. "Who doesn't?"

"Even you want power Netzach. You want the power to escape your prison, to get a little revenge. Tell me little girl, how many times has the thought of ripping Hojos heart from his beating chest passed your mind?"

"You going to fight me or not?" she snarled. Her lips baring her teeth and wrinkling her nose.

"You won't admit it, but you liked the thrill of the kill. Must be something from your father's side." The girl snarled again, Derek gave another of his dark chuckles that send shivers up her spin.

"Very well."

Netzach automatically stepped back when he rushed at her, his heavy sword swinging. It almost seemed to go into slow motion as his sword passed her by, missing her by mere inches. It's weight almost crushing her simply by looking at it. It was odd however, he had no materia equipped. The man was relying only upon his strength. And all she could do was dodge out of his way. She tried blocking him with the katana she had, but it was no use.

Instead with a quick move he threw the blade from her hands. It landed in a garbage heap nearby. "Not even two minutes into the fight and all you're doing is dodging my attacks? Even your blocks are terrible!"

Derek, taking advantage of the unarmed girl did a combo of attacks, right and left, and left and right. Netzach ducking every one of them until he swung his sword from up high. When it hit the ground it made a crunching sound. Netzach all the while clinging onto some sort of hope that she could walk away alive. The impact sent a tremor through the ground. And she was knocked off her feet.

"Pathetic. I thought the daughter of Sephiroth would have a little more fight in her. Even if you are just a child."

Netzach crawled around on the ground. It hurt, he had defeated her and she barely even put up a fight. "If you will not join us, then it ends here for you now." Desperately her eyes scanned the area for… anything she could use as he lift his sword for the kill. Eyes widening she saw her sword close by.

She quickly got up and leaped for the sword just as Derek's buster sword hit the ground where she had been. But once again the world seemed to slow down and it was in mid air that Derek came eye to eye with her just before she could reach her katana and tossed her back to the ground, but this time leaving a huge gash on her stomach as his sword slightly but deeply came into contact with flesh.

Netzach hit the ground and tumbled before she came into contact with a wall, and even then she wouldn't stop moving since it seemed to push her right back into the dirt. Her breathing was heavy and she could hear his footsteps. She rolled over unto her stomach, the dirt settling itself into her wound made it hurt all the more, but if she didn't get to her feet. He'd kill her.

Steadily she raised herself up.

Aimsworth chuckled as he ran his fist into her face, and catched her before she would fall to the ground. He shifted his hold on her from her arm to her hair. And then began to drag her.

"Let me GO!"

"What's this? A little bit of spunk eh?"

He took her off to an alley. "Nice place to end it all…." He once again gripped her by the arm and tossed her into an alley against a brick wall. "Your rotting corpse will go well with the garbage."

Netzach narrowed her eyes at the man. "Still defiant as ever." Curling his fingers into a fist he didn't hesitate to punch her. "Remain still now."

"No."

Netzach grabbed a rusty old railing beside her. "Damn you!" Derek pushed her down. And the girl struggled to overcome him. "Let me go!"

"Stay down!"

"NO!" Snarling she rammed a fist into his stomach. She was pleased when she heard a crack. A little payback.

Derek began to back away from her. And laughed. His head hung over and his eyes covered by his hair that hung over his face. "I think you broke something. Is that the Jenova in you? Is that what it gives you? To have that much of it in you, swarming around."

"Jenova?"

His hand was still covering the space where she hit him. He was hurting that was obvious. So she decided to hurt him a little more. She hit him the face a few times before she finally gave him an upper cut and hopefully disjointed his jaw. He fell backwards and landed on the ground.

"Ahh… The family rage."

"Shut up!" Another punch was about to hit his face but he stopped it, curling his hand over her fist. She snarled at him for stopping her.

"So much potential you're never going to make anything of yourself if you stay with ShinRa."

"Would I be better manipulated by you?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes it does."

"HA! How so? Don't tell me it's simply because your father served under ShinRa? Obligations to have the family name remain under their order?"

"No."

"Then what is it? Made friends with the Vice President? But then again that wasn't by choice was it?

Netzach looked shocked for a mere moment. "He knows." He simply stated. "He knows exactly why your friends with him. He knows that you have been sent in to befriend him so his old man could figure out what he is up to."

"How…"

"You said it yourself, Rufus isn't stupid. And right now, he's probably cursing you. Since NOW you have to state everything you've heard and seen to the President himself, so don't be surprised that Rufus will have a few little surprises for you…. If you survive me first!"

Derek rose to his feet Netzach still in hand as she dangled. He smirked at her before he swung her into a wall, not letting go of her. "Survive here, and you could go back."

"How….lo..ong…."

"How long has he known?" Netzach nodded, it hurt but she wasn't going to show any kind of weakness to this monster, even if she was beaten, she was still going to do whatever it took to at least keep her pride intact.

"For awhile. Why he hasn't had you killed yet…. Hojo wouldn't care, he'd just have a fluster because one of his specimens was gone, but you'd be forgotten in about a week. Unless…. He actually enjoys your company."

"Rufus… wo..ouldn't care. He's a cold… bastard."

"True" he took her again by the arm and swung her into a wall, this time pinning her there. "But why keep you alive?" Grabbing her again he tossed her onto the ground. "You're nothing more then a threat to his little schemes. You speak a word and it's all gone down hill for him. Therefore he obviously can't trust you. So why bring you along… unless the bastard has something specifically in mind for you?"

"I….I'm not that… important to…him."

"You'd rather he kill you?"

"No."

"Hah then you must be of some importantace…. But what? Your strength and power is only just now coming to. And we all know Rufus ShinRa adores power. Perhaps he has a separate offer for you. Heh, kill his father and he takes over. Just a theory however…."

The young girl heard his words become all jumbled together. He rambled on and on as she tried to balance herself onto her knees. From there perhaps she could work her way to her feet. But it was not to be. "Stay down!" he yelled as he pushed her back into the mud, and then immediately holding her down the repeatedly began to punch her in the head. Each blow causing her vision to go more and more black. She was about to just give in when she heard a familiar voice in the background.

"You fucker!"

It was then a black hand took hold of Aimsworth, the other was holding something long and very light in color, almost silver. Sparks grew from it and even more so as it engaged Aimswoths' body.

"Netzach?"

"Aimsworth?" her voice was in a low grunt, almost in a half yell. "No" the voice answered. "He's knocked out, and will wake up soon, but he'll be in a cell by that time, you ok?"

Netzach squinted her eyes. "Rude?"

"Can you walk?"

"Rude….go after Ru…Rufus. AVA..LAN..CHE is plotting to kill him, they had…had this all planned. Distracted his bodyguards and they have him right where they want him."

Rude raised an eyebrow. "I left the Vice President with-"

"NO!" she managed to spit out with whatever little energy she had left in her body. "They….he told me. We-"

"Take it easy there, you'll hurt yourself."

Netzach grunted at the pain she felt rush through her body as she slowly stood to her feet. "It doesn't matter. We…. We have to get back. Besides…. Isn't protecting the Vice President priority of your job?"

The Turk let out a sigh, the girl was right. How foolish he was to leave Rufus behind, even if it was his orders. "Let's go…. But you stay behind me at all times, understood?" Netzach gave a nod. "Yes."

"Then shall we?"

"Yes…. But give me a second."

"Loose something?"

"That sword, the one that the terrorist had on her. I want to keep it."

"That one?" Rude eyed it. The young girl nodded. "Yes." Picking it up she looked upon it, the curve of the blade, it was nicely made, but had been used many times, since you could see all the nicks and scratches. "I can use it somewhat, a lot better then a gun."

"You shouldn't have to fight Ms. Crescent."

"Ms. Crescent? Where did that come from?"

Rude shrugged. "You just let me handle the fighting ok?" Netzach grunted. She could fight, look after herself. She has been fighting all alone since her life was brutally taken away from her. So why can't she fight now? Rude sighed. "I said no Netzach"

"Why not?"

"You're too young. Now let's go."

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It had been awhile since that Turk had back stabbed him with his electromagtic rod. Clever move, at least he gave him that much. He was ruthless also, but then again the Turks were known to be the best at the most untidy of jobs. They didn't get their fancy pay without a few killings, betrayals, and possible massacres. It was just part of being part of ShinRa Inc. The killing never ended.

It was a good thing however that he had been treated with the same chemicals and mako amounts as any other in SOLIDER. The stun didn't last for long, just enough to put him out so they could skedaddle. He was one of the few that actually had made it into the elite group; however it was too bad that he was actually a member of AVALANCHE.

With all this running through his mind Aimsworth picked himself off the ground. His mind a blur, but clearing. The two had run off back towards the Vice Presidents last location. He hoped that Elfe was doing her job correctly.

Netzach did find is somewhat difficult to run. But the wounds were already healing themselves. And she found that at times the healing was more painful then actually making the wound. However she shrugged it off, if Rufus was fine she could get bandaged up, and besides Rude didn't need her slowing him down. And if she did, she knew he would leave her behind, regardless of his orders to bring her back.

She thought back on it now and running after Elfe was a foolish move. The girl thought she could defeat the rebel like the man before, but then he interfered. Derek Aimsworth was a member of SOLDIER, or so she thought. He said he knew Zack, "The bastard lied." she thought. But maybe it was planned out that way all along. Get as many people inside the company as they could, make sure that they knew a bunch of inside stories and get them the cozy high up jobs so they could shut ShinRa down from the inside. Or maybe it was Rufus…. But then again that didn't make sense. If it were true that he wanted to get rid of his father he wouldn't want ShinRa to fall, since he himself would take over the company. But there was the factor that he could organize it so it looked like it was a terrorist attack from the inside.

Whatever it was both sides had planned she wanted to figure it out, but so many things where out of her reach.

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YAY! Now I can get onto the next chapter XD

Fangy


	19. Execution of all things

Her heart paced quickly. The injuries she had obtained had mostly healed themselves up. It was the one thing she was grateful for towards Hojo. Making sure she could heal up in an immense amount of time like basically no other human.

"Did you leave the Vice President with-"

"I left him with the boys in blue. Tseng however should be showing up soon. If not already."

Netzach relaxed a little when she heard Tseng had gotten word. It meant that basically this little dispute was going to be put under wraps in no time. Especially with someone as organized as Tseng.

However when they got back to the scene where the whole ruckus began no one was in sight.

"What the hell!?" The girl stated ever so bluntly.

Rude pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number. Probably Tseng's. It rang a bit before the stoic Turk picked up the phone. "You got the Vice president?"

Netzach put her hands on her hips and looked around at the rubble. "Shit!" was all she heard from the Turk. With that Rude put his phone away. And she walked up to him casually. "Does Tseng have him? Or-"

"No, he doesn't. Look Netzach-"

"I am NOT going back to the labs OK! Turks are a part of this "mission" as much as I am! I was forced to put my life on the line! You all know that if Rufus ever found out he'd have me killed. Or WORSE!! So I'm staying!"

Rude Shrugged. "No he wouldn't."

"Why not!?"

Rude shrugged again. "You don't understand. Rufus already knows you're spying on him. He told us that much."

"And you don't report such things to the President."

"What goes on in between Turks stays between them."

"I don't get it." The girl shook her head. Rude polished his sunglasses. "Rufus did train as a Turk."

Netzach looked up at Rude. "So it gives him a bit of an advantage." Again Rude just shrugged. "Anyways Rufus is fine."

"What!? I thought you said Tseng didn't have him!?"

"I did say that. Rufus is apparently in the company of Amarant. Tseng got SOLDIER off their duffs it seems. A clean up crew should be here soon." The girl looked up at him in curiosity. "Then why the swearing.?"

"Amarant isn't the most nicest of people."

"But neither is Rufus."

Rude just adjusted his sunglasses. It was his way of agreeing with the little girl.

"What of the building they blew up. There were people that worked there. There-"

"No use in crying over spilt milk"

Netzach felt saddened by those words. She thought that maybe something more "eloquent" would come from the Turks mouth but she guessed wrong.

(oooooooooOooooooooo)

"You know for a SOLDIER you're a tad bit…. Old" Rufus smirked. SOLDIER had arrived on scene. Probably Tseng's doing. His old man wouldn't give a damn. Not that it really mattered. He was slick about the whole situation. AVALANCE had prepared an attack on the ShinRa family. That much was clear. But now to go after the heir to the ShinRa fortune. Well now. It looked like your typical failed assassination. Not that it would of fooled his father but there was no proof the old man could stick in his face.

"With age comes attributes."

Rufus scoffed at the remark. The SOLDIER said nothing. "Your name SOLDIER."

"Amarant."

"Interesting." Rufus leaned back in the truck.

(oooooooooOooooooooo)

"What's going to happen now?"

The streets still vacant, but he could hear the cleaning crew coming, only minutes away. It's sirens screaming out in a panic. Rushing civilians off to the side of the road in their hopes to get to the scene on time.

Rude shrugged off the question but answered her simply. "They will hunt whoever down and end it."

"They mean to put an end to AVALANCHE."

"Put an end to their terrorizing. Yes."

Netzach came to a conclusion. In her own mind. She wouldn't dare say the thoughts out loud. AVALANCHE was really only as "evil" as those they fought against. They destroyed buildings fully knowing there was people inside. Derek said it was taking down ShinRas forces. But the one thing that bugged her was that the every day police officer wasn't anything like SOLDIER or the Turks. They were just people that investigated the murders, solved cases and stopped banks from being robbed. They were the protection of the people of Midgar, the everyday joe. And those police officers had nothing to do with the hunt for AVALANCHE. Only ShinRa exclusive members had something as big a deal as that on their shoulders. The whole thing they did was… needless. It wasn't about saving the planet, it was a power struggle. One was showing the other what they could do. But she knew that unfortunately now. ShinRa would react in full force.

"Expect some sort of underground war." Rude spoke softly, knowing that he probably shouldn't of told the girl that but there was something about the kid that he knew that she would have a helping hand in ShinRa beating out the day. Besides if such a thing did happen, Garrius would probably be the first to tell her all about that. It would be loads of fun for the General he bet.

"ShinRa nor AVALANCHE will stop unless someone puts a stop to the other."

Rude stood over the girl as he heard the sirens coming up from behind him in full force.

"I thought the last brigade was also a clean up crew?"

"They were only a few that were sent out to recover anything and anyone. They probably left after the Vice President was picked up by SOLDIER. In reporting they needed a clean up crew. SOLDIER over heard that and then sent them off and got their people to take care of it. The cops that came were probably more then likely called to the bomb scene anyways. Plus when SOLDIER tells you to leave. You just do. Right now the left is now in strictly ShinRa hands."

"I see"

The trucks stopped behind him. Rude turned around to see a few familiar faces.

"Sir!"

"Time for the usual"

"Yes sir!"

The ShinRa guards scattered about the scene. Netzach was amazed at how fast they were able to clean up the mess. The rubble was swept up as was the glass. The place was closed off by the yellow tape as usual and the clean up crew did their work discreetly.

That night Netzach learnt a thing or two about terrorism. Of how it feeds on fear, and how ShinRa in itself gain profit on that fear. The people would go to ShinRa for safety when all they really were running into was an even more dangerous situation. But still she didn't blame anyone. People wanted to be secure.

(oooooooooOooooooooo)

It wasn't before long that Rude got a call from Tseng regarding Netzach. "Sure boss." The Turk closed his phone. "Hey kid." Netzach was watching the clean up crew and the civilians trying to take a peek at what was going on, and noticing the SOILDER members trying to get them away from the scene. But she heard the Turk behind her. "Yea" she said quietly.

"Tseng wants to see you."

"Why?"

Rude shrugged. Netzach got a little bit worried. Rude had said Rufus knew of her spying ordeal. Maybe the Vice President had the word put out that he knew or that she blew her cover. She really didn't want the president telling her what a failure she was.

"He'll come pick you up by Helicopter."

Or maybe Hojo just wanted her home for her nightly shot. Either she never liked it when she was personally called upon by the Turks.

(oooooooooOooooooooo)

It took about twenty minutes, but sooner or later Tseng did arrive in a black ShinRa helicopter as promised. It landed only a short distance from her and Rude. And as usual the stoic figure stepped out and gave the usual curt nod to his fellow Turk. Rude gave the nod back and then casually walked away from Netzach. And with that the young girl was a bit nervous. She was usually fine around Reno and Rude. But Tseng… he was a different story.

"The Vice President would like to speak with you."

(oooooooooOooooooooo)

It took far to long to get to their destination, or at least to Netzach it did. The girl was worried. Had she done something wrong? Had she blown her cover? Her heart was skipping beats but she tried to remain cool and calm on the outside.

They didn't go to the usual place, or what she thought would be the usual place which would be ShinRa HQ. Instead, Tseng took her someplace completely different. "Where are we?"

"A bar" came the cool voice of the Turk.

"But I can't go in there!"

"You're a ShinRa employee and as long as work under ShinRa, yes you can.." Tseng's eyes looked to the side to see the girl off to his side and without a movement he also stated "You just can't drink anything. Unless it's milk."

The girls shoulders slouched in defeat. Tseng turned this time to face the young SOLDIER. "This place is called the Sixth Bith, ironically enough it is in sector six. It is more or less a bar not operated by ShinRa but the Turks and many a like have made it their "second home" somewhat."

"I see."

"This way" was the only thing that came out of the Turks mouth as he turned and entered the bar. Netzach ran up behind him to catch up. Upon entering the bar she did see a few familiar faces. Within moments however she came upon one face she found a little to familiar at the moment.

"Sir." Tseng said before walking over to a plastered Reno.

"Who's the kid?"

Netzach figured the SOLDIER beside Rufus was Amarant, the one Rude had told her about.. He was kind of old for a SOILDER, but had that hardcore edge most in SOLDIER had. Rufus only ignored the question.

"Long time no see Netzach. I trust Rude found you in good shape?"

"Yea…."

Something wasn't right, the air was thick, and she felt she could drown in it at this moment. "Look Rufus I'm sorry I ran after-"

The Vice president chuckled a bit. "Water over the bridge as one might say."

"Oh ummm… ok."

"One of the real reasons why I wanted you along with me today, before all this unfolded upon us was to reflect upon something else. You see my dear Netzach. I have known for awhile that my old man asked you to spy on me. Now with the fact that you know I have had connections with AVALANCHE, with Elfe showing up out of no where… I have to see where our loyalties lie."

"Great" she thought. "What do you mean? I…."

Amarant chuckled, Tseng stood quietly while Reno had passed out.

"Netzach this is a game. A game or power and democracy. You win, you win it all. You loose, you loose everything. I never loose. So I ask you simply what side do you stand on?"

Netzach caved at that moment. With a sigh she began to explain everything. "It's not my fault. I didn't even want to do it. I… I don't understand."

"I know. But…." Rufus walked over to the young girl and looked down on her, displaying his power over almost anything and anyone. "My old man needs to have his priorities put back into place. So from now on. Even though I am still unsure of you Ms Crescent, you now work for me."

"But Garrius…. The professor. I mean…."

"Don't get me wrong you are a highly involved member of the projects Hojo runs. And a major influence in SOLDIER. Hence why I want you to see things my way. And you will. And in time, you'll like the way I do things."

Netzach didn't really know what to say, she felt like a dog however with it's leash being passed around from one owner to the next.


	20. Birthday FLUFF! Bonus

Thirteen. It was supposed to be one of those birthdays were it's like entering a new phase in life. A step closer to adulthood. IF the young girl was still amongst her parents she would have probably gotten a cake, some new clothes, and just maybe a new watch. Something nice, unlike the "kiddie" watch she had gotten two years ago. Hopefully no toys. I mean she was now a teenager, what would a teenager need with toys? Although she did secretly want something to play with. Whether it be a new action figure or a stuffed animal. Life in the labs was anything but a playground.

Bo no. Not this Birthday. Netzach really didn't know what to expect this birthday. Probably the usual thing she received every day. Shots, training, and more experimentation. Just like ever other day. Birthdays probably meant little to nothing to the dear professor.

What she didn't expect however was Dark Nation sitting outside by her bedroom door. "Emmm…?" She was half expecting Rufus to come around the corner to fetch the pantherhound. But the Vice President was no where to be found. "Why are you here?" she asked the pantherhound. Dark Nation however just cocked his head and looked at her. It was then she noticed his collar had an Envelope tucked in it. "Odd" she said as she gently took the slim piece of paper from the pantherhounds collar.

As soon as she took the envelope however Dark Nation stood up and calmly walked into her room and leapt up onto her bed. "Hey! You're going to get it all mucky!" Netzach frowned a little before she followed the pantherhound back inside her room and gently closed her door.

"Guess I should open it?"

Dark Nation looked at her. His eyes then wandered around the room. He was pretty content just sitting there on her bed.

"It's a good thing Rufus keeps you clean." With that said she stuck her thumb into the end of the envelope and opened it. "A card." She said.

"Great. First he yells at me then he gives me a birthday card. I don't know how you deal with that guy Nation." The pantherhound looked at the girl questionably. But probably really thought nothing of it.

She read the card to herself. The front basically said "Birthday girl!" with some sort of goofy looking dog on it with some sort of face that must have been graphically changed on a computer. On some art program. The inside however was different. It was all his hand writing.

"Remember a good girl doesn't get presents! And so far you've been really bad, although I hope Dark Nation suffices for today. Oh, and the chocolate. Have a nice day. "

-Rufus

"What Chocolate?" the girl wondered. Just then there was a knock at her door. The girl got up off her bed and wandered over to her door. Upon opening it she was greeted with Reno with a basket full of chocolate.

"From the Vice prez to you. Happy Birthday kid." Reno then basically plunked the entire basket in her arms and walked off. Netzach watched him walk back to the elevator and boarded. "Well that was interesting" the girl thought to herself. With Reno gone she turned to go back into her room only to find Dark Nation right behind her. "WHOA!" laying down of course and she almost tripped over him. "You're in the way." Dark Nation basically sighed and got up and moved to the next spot.

The girl after a few moments of looking at the basket got itching for the chocolate before her. She dove into it. Finding only good things. She even found that there was a bottle of pop in there as well.

Other then her morning the day went by as usual. The professor came knocking, asking why was the Vice Presidents rodent with her. Netzach just stated that Rufus sent him up here for the day, as to why she did not know. But either way the pantherhound did not leave the girls side.

Even during the night Dark Nation hopped up on the bed with her and didn't leave until she was fast asleep with her arm around the pantherhound. It wasn't until there was a creek at the door did Nation perk up.

"Here boy." came the whisper of a voice. It was a voice he knew well and didn't disobey it. The pantherhound gently got up and slid off the bed. Leaving the young girl sound asleep.

"Did you have fun?" Rufus petted his loyal companion. It was odd for the Vice President to be so kind, and never once until now did he ever loan out his pantherhound to anyone. Dark Nation was his, and his alone. But for some odd reason Netzach loved him and there was something about her that Nation liked as well. Rufus didn't know why he did it, but he felt that Dark Nation didn't seem to mind.


End file.
